Having endured the club's worst start in 50 years, most Liverpool fans could barely believe their eyes as the Reds approached a mouthwatering fixture against Manchester United.
13-games unbeaten since their last meeting, the Reds were primed to not only avenge their last loss - but also deal a blow to their arch-rival's top-four hopes as the season entered it's final stretch. Brendan Rodgers' side were in a fine position to control their own destiny despite a wretched opening few months to the 2014-15 season.
Two Juan Mata goals and a Steven Gerrard red card later, things were looking rather more bleak. Champions League qualification was not yet out of the question, but Liverpool's soaring confidence had been left shot as they fell to Louis van Gaal's team for the second time this season, leaving them five points behind the Red Devils as a consequence.
Approaching a clash against Arsene Wenger's Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, everyone involved with Liverpool Football Club knew that they could not afford to lose - or else top-four would almost certainly be out of the question
After withstanding a barrage of early pressure from the Gunners, the visitors grew into the game and in the 18th minute had the perfect opportunity to revive their hopes of a place in the top-four.
Philippe Coutinho's through ball carving the Arsenal defence like a hot knife through butter left Lazar Markovic racing through on goal. With Raheem Sterling five yards to his left and the goal at his mercy, Liverpool looked set to open the game's scoring. But as David Ospina approached and the weight of expectation hit the Serbian like a brick wall, the £20-million summer signing panicked. Too low on confidence to shoot and not calm enough to pick out the right pass, Markovic's square ball evaded Sterling and drifted out of play.
The chance was gone, and even though Liverpool continued to create chances for the next few minutes - everyone quietly knew that they would likely go on to regret that opportunity. They did.
Eight catastrophic minutes before half-time left Liverpool's European hopes in absolute tatters. Similarly to the scintillating opening 20 minutes in the Reds' 5-1 victory over the same opposition last season, Arsenal found it all too easy to pick up possession and drift through Liverpool's defence before rippling the back of the net.
The expression on Brendan Rodgers' face as he watched Alexis Sanchez' fierce strike pierce past Simon Mignolet for the third goal on the stroke of half-time said it all. The Reds' top-four hopes were all but over from there on in, whilst Olivier Giroud's stoppage-time added injury to insult after Jordan Henderson pulled one back from the penalty spot.
Seven games left and seven games behind, a comeback to gain Champions League qualification now would be a comeback of an Istanbul-like magnitude.
Manchester United's run-in may be difficult and Manchester City's form may be fleeting, but with Chelsea and Arsenal's spots looking safer and safer and the seven point gap between Liverpool and fourth - only the ever optimistic supporters could imagine the Reds making that gap up in so few games.
But the 4-1 loss against Arsenal on Saturday was not just a game which surely signalled the end of Liverpool's top-four charge, it was a daunting reminder of how far behind the Reds have fallen.
As Liverpool's summer signings stuttered; Markovic's confidence through the floor, Mario Balotelli back on Merseyside with an "injury" and the most expensive defender in the club's history, Dejan Lovren, deemed not good enough to displace a 34-year-old veteran signed on a free transfer - Arsenal's stepped up to the plate.
Mesut Ozil may have come in for plenty of criticism during his Arsenal career, but his performance against Rodgers' side showed what money can buy, being just as important as Liverpool summer transfer target Alexis Sanchez' role in the Gunners' victory was.
But whilst the last two games seem to have derailed Liverpool's chase for fourth, they did little to help themselves all the way back in the summer. Coming off the back of a splendid title charge, with the £75 million funds generated from the sale of Luis Suarez and UEFA Champions League football back at Anfield - Rodgers and Liverpool had the perfect opportunity to begin building for the future.
It turned out to be an opportunity missed. Whilst the players signed certainly have potential, with Emre Can impressing and Markovic possessing a raw talent which has been seen in glimpses, those who were signed for an immediate impact have not done enough, and a top-class talent was not purchased. The likes of top-class talents who have contributed to Manchester United and Arsenal's likely top-four finishes.
Adam Lallana, signed for £25 million, has rarely shown that he is a better player than Philippe Coutinho - signed for a third of Lallana's price 18 months earlier. In fact, Raheem Sterling has largely looked a better player in the attacking midfield role, despite Lallana notching four goals and three assists in 19 league appearances.
Furthermore, Dejan Lovren has done little to prove he is worth even a fraction of the money paid for him, making more errors than any other Liverpool player and struggling to even warrant a place on the substitutes' bench at times. The Croatian has been struggling for confidence, but has been a world away from the vocal leader that Liverpool expected the £20 million fee they paid to Southampton would bring them.
Another arrival from the south coast, Rickie Lambert, has done very little. Admittedly he was never going to be a world-beater, but that makes the signing even more bewildering. He had a brief run of games, scoring a few fairytale goals away in Bulgaria and then Birmingham, but has not really played any part since. But it is a damning indictment of Liverpool's transfer nous that the 33-year-old centre-forward started in their crucial Champions League tie against Basel back in December.
Mario Balotelli seemed a questionable signing ever since his arrival back in late August, but even more questionable has been the treatment of the player. Whether he was a Rodgers signing or a committee signing we may never find out, but the hesitancy to hand him the right opportunities has been puzzling. He may have put in some poor performances, but he has certainly shown some willingness to work harder than he did in his AC Milan and Manchester City days - whilst he has been hampered by a lack of support in a single-striker system that plays to the style of someone like Luis Suarez, who will make constant runs in behind and around the opposition defence. Balotelli never has been, or will be, that kind of player - so thrusting him into a system that does not suit his individual style of play was never going to do much for either parties.
So whilst the defeats to Manchester United and Arsenal ultimately ended the Reds' charge up the table, they did little to help themselves all the way back in the summer. Had they been more sensible with their wallets, evaluating players better suited to make an impact in a system that would suit their styles, Liverpool may not have had to attempt to mastermind a rescue half-way through the season.
But that is the way that the season has gone, and as a result - Liverpool supporters may have to go through a few more years of Europa League football before they have the opportunity to get back to the big time.
There is of course the argument that new arrivals are never going to seamlessly slot into the side, as Rodgers has pointed out many a time this campaign. A lack of time to fully integrate them into his side saw them struggle to make an impact early on, but is that really an excuse?
Liverpool always knew they would have less time in between games with added competition. They knew that back in May. They also knew that the younger summer additions, Markovic, Can and even Alberto Moreno, would never be able to provide a level of performance consistent with the more experienced talents of Manchester United, Arsenal and others can produce in similar positions.
Perhaps things would be different had the desires of Sanchez and his family to live in London not been tested with an increased amount of money per week on Merseyside, whilst a smarter scouting system - finding the right players for Rodgers' system - would probably have helped, even if those identified were not necessarily considered the best in the world in their position. That, ultimately, was why Liverpool started the season so badly, crashed out of the Champions League, and gave themselves a mountain to climb by Christmas day - a mountain that has proved insurmountable.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, considering many Liverpool fans were pleased with their summer's worth of business come the end of August last year, but the failure to attract Alexis Sanchez was a severe blow, and a cruel prompting that Liverpool are not the attractive career calling they once were.
For now, the Reds are not the "superpower" that Rodgers insisted they are in the build-up to the Arsenal encounter. In fact, they are far from it. Even if the Northern Irishman leads Liverpool to FA Cup glory, they will struggle to attract the top-class bracket of players that the fans and the squad are crying out for, and a few more years out in the cold could await of missing the opportunity to replace the world-class presence of Luis Suarez.