Another Premier League season is entering its final act, and it's about now fans of every team get their calculators and notebooks out to decipher how their team can finish as high in the table as possible.
No set of fans have been doing that more than Liverpool supporters this season.
Yet the maths has become rather simple in recent weeks, as Liverpool have edged closer and closer to the Premier League title, but when can they achieve this feat?
When can Liverpool officially be crowned champions?
As things stand, with five games left to play, the maximum number of points Arsenal can achieve is 81. This means that should Mikel Arteta's side beat Crystal Palace at home on Wednesday, April 23 then Liverpool would be crowned champions with a home win against Tottenham on Sunday, April 27.
A draw between second-placed Arsenal and Palace would not see Liverpool become champions until their match against Tottenham Hotspur. They would only need a point when they face Ange Postecoglou's side in this scenario.
As is tradition when a team clinches the title with games remaining in the season, opponents will give them a guard of honour before each match starts, which would mean Chelsea would applaud them onto the pitch in their game at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, May 4.
Can Liverpool win the Premier League sooner?
The above scenario requires Arsenal to avoid defeat in midweek. However, if Arsenal are to lose against Crystal Palace then Liverpool would officially become Premier League champions again on the evening of April 23.
This is now the earliest they can be crowned champions but would would mean they are crowned champions with five games to spare, short of the seven games they achieved in the 2019/20 season, the last time they won the league.
Liverpool hold the record for the earliest-ever Premier League title win… and the latest
Liverpool's 2020 title win was the earliest that a team had ever won the title, clinching it after Manchester City were beaten by Chelsea.
With seven games left of that season, it was the earliest that a team had ever lifted the Premier League: even Manchester City's Centurions only did it with five games remaining, in 2017/18.
But by a quirk of fate, Liverpool's win was also the latest the title had ever been won. Chelsea's 2-1 win over City came in an empty Stamford Bridge on June 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic – making it the latest date in the calendar that the league had ever been clinched… ever.
That means that the Reds have won one Premier League title to date – and hold both records for it.
Liverpool's remaining fixtures
Tottenham Hotspur (H)
Chelsea (A)
Arsenal (H)
Brighton & Hove Albion (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Arsenal's remaining fixtures
Crystal Palace (H)
Bournemouth (H)
Liverpool (A)
Newcastle (H)
Southampton (A)
