Liverpool stand one win away from being crowned Premier League champions after relegating Leicester City on Sunday
The Reds saw their chance to win the league scuppered by Arsenal on Easter Sunday, but can now finish things off in front of a home crowd next week against Tottenham.
Should Arsenal beat Crystal Palace on Wednesday, Liverpool will win the Premier League by winning against Spurs. If Palace manage to defeat the Gunners, it will be done and dusted in midweek.
In the former scenario, Liverpool would be confirmed as champions with four games to go. In the later, it would be five. 33 matches to win a Premier League title would be very impressive indeed.
Some of those 33 have been gruelling, others have been fantastic. But through them all, there have been only three members of the Liverpool squad who have been ever present on the team sheet
One of them is Ryan Gravenberch. And after stepping up into a more regular role this season, Gravenberch has now admitted that he is struggling a little with the workload
Ryan Gravenberch opens up on fatigue struggles
Gravenberch has had a superb season with Liverpool. Having started every single Premier League game so far, he has been crucial to everything the Reds are about to achieve.
Despite that, there has been a notable dropping off from the Dutchman over recent weeks. From dominating and really standing out in games he has noticeably become more of a passenger.
Having gone from playing 1,121 minutes in the league last season to 2,837 this time around – with five games to play – that is understandable really.
This is something the team at LFCTV put to Gravenberch after he played another 90 minutes against Leicester on Sunday.
“Still going strong!” laughed the 22-year-old. “To be honest it’s really tough as well, last season I didn’t play a lot and now I played almost every game.
“It’s tough but I still keep going, it’ll be worth it.”
Gravenberch happy with improvement
Although Gravenberch has visibly tired as the season has progressed, he also has every reason to be delighted with his form this term. Thankfully, he is.
“I think I improved really a lot,” he said. “At the beginning of the season I had to adapt to the new role, to the new position. I didn’t play a lot there but now I know what I have to do and the manager fully trusted me there. I’m really happy with that
Asked what he enjoys about playing in a deeper role, Gravenberch pointed to having the chance to get on the ball much more than previously.
“When you play there you receive a lot of the ball and that’s what I needed to get comfortable, break through the lines and open up in the play, I really enjoy that,” he said.
When Liverpool do eventually wrap the title up, it will be interesting to see whether Arne Slot affords Gravenberch a rest. Until then, he’ll continue to be vital