Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Stoke City on Saturday night moved them onto 63 points for the Premier League season from 32 games, leaving them with six games to play, and a potential 18 more points to pick up.

Whilst it’s not clear yet how many points the Reds will need to secure a top four spot, with Manchester City on 61 points from 31 games, Manchester United on 57 points from 30 games and Arsenal on 54 points from 30 games, what is clear is that Liverpool’s win against Stoke is the most important of their season so far.

Points on the board

It’s very difficult to quantify exactly how crucial second half strikes from Phillipe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino will prove when Liverpool look back on their campaign in May, but it’s also difficult to overstate how critical this result will be should Liverpool go on to play in the Champions League next season.

In terms of brute points on the board, this was a massive result. We’re at the stage of the season now where every single point is vital, which means that no win can be discounted. Knowing that with things as close as they are, a single point or even less could separate 4th and 5th places in the table, every single victory is pivotal, with only six league games left for the Reds, three points represents a significant proportion of the points left to collate.

Moreover, with Manchester United’s fixture list horrendous and Arsenal’s not significantly better, Liverpool know that right now, points on the board are more valuable than games in hand, especially as Liverpool only have six games to play over the next six weeks, whilst Manchester United and Arsenal both have at least ten, as both are still competing on multiple fronts, as well as having games in hand.

The pendulum of momentum

But arguably more important than the points on the board is the lasting psychological effect that this result will have had. Momentum in football can be absolutely pivotal, and off the back of a damaging and frustrating 2-2 draw with Bournemouth, Liverpool needed to keep their momentum going. Defeat against Stoke would have meant dropping five points in four days, allowing their rivals an opportunity to close the gap. Instead, Liverpool have picked up four wins and two draws in their last six games, having secured just one win in the previous seven. The Stoke game was a huge pendulum, and it felt like it. Around Anfield, for the players and the fans, there was a clear sense that this was a watershed moment; that the rest of Liverpool’s season hung on that second 45 minutes.

Liverpool simply put, needed to win. To get three points on the board was huge, and to keep the momentum going was even more important. Liverpool needed to show, to themselves as much as to anyone else, that they could win without Sadio Mané, something that they had not done previously this season. Moreover, from here, things will hopefully improve. Liverpool were without five of their front six from the start against Stoke, something that hopefully won’t happen again this season as Coutinho and Firmino have a week to recover, and Adam Lallana and Jordan Henderson won’t be far behind them.

Liverpool have players coming back from injury, momentum, a major psychological boost and a winning grit behind them. All of their last four wins have been 2-1 or 3-1, hard fought, ground out results against good sides. Any slip ups now from Arsenal and the Reds will almost be home and dry. The pressure is on their opponents, and they are looking like a team who is getting the wins that they need.

So whilst every win from here on out may well overtake Stoke as being the “most important”, it’s impossible to underestimate the psychological blow that losing to Stoke would have dealt Liverpool and handed their rivals. Instead, it’s them who have thrown down the gauntlet, and they have kept the momentum, and the belief, flowing.