Liverpool legend Alan Hansen is starting to believe his former club are serious title contenders.
The Reds have not been domestic champions since 1990 but top the Premier League at the halfway stage with a three-point lead over second-placed Chelsea.
And Hansen said: ‘I have been tipping Chelsea for the championship all along, but the longer the season goes on the better chance that I think Liverpool have got.’
Liverpool looked in championship form as they beat Newcastle United 5-1 on Sunday, while Chelsea struggled to a 2-2 draw with Fulham.
The Cottagers also took a point from Liverpool recently, as did West Ham and Hull, but Hansen reckons it is the ability to recover from such setbacks which shows Rafael Benitez's men have improved from previous seasons.
‘Certainly Liverpool have a better chance of winning than they had least season,’ he wrote in his column in The Daily Telegraph.
‘They are more resilient than at the same time last season, they have more strength in depth and, crucially, they are able to create impetus and momentum.
‘In the last month they have had three draws against lesser teams and it has not affected them.
‘The most important thing is that they are not getting beaten.
‘Mentally, the difference between drawing and losing is massive, even if the gap in points between winning and drawing is greater.
‘As a title contender a defeat places unbelievable pressure on you, so it is when you lose two games in four or five that you find out what you are made of.
‘This is where Manchester United and Chelsea have become brilliant; it is the aptitude test of a championship-winning side.’
