After beating Southampton 4-0 at Anfield on Saturday, Liverpool drew level with the Nottingham Forest side of 1977/78 on 42 top flight matches unbeaten, with only Arsenal's 'Invincibles' of 2003/04 now ahead of them with the longest ever unbeaten streak, standing at 49 games.

It's worth noting, though, that within Forest's 42-game unbeaten streak, they drew 21 games, while Arsenal won 36 and drew 13 within their 49-game run, whereas Liverpool have posted 37 wins and five draws, stretching all the way back to the 1-0 away win against Brighton & Hove Albion on 12 January 2019.

Throughout much of the season, there has been a conscious effort among Liverpool fans not to tempt fate regarding the league title, which is entirely understandable given the scars of all those false dawns from years gone by. But over the past couple of months, as Liverpool have pulled far into the distance and left Manchester City reeling in their wake, the conversation has shifted to where and when, rather than if, the title will be confirmed. To still deny it at this point starts to look ridiculous, to the extent that it would suggest an unreasonable lack of faith in this remarkable team and manager.

Whereas last season, Liverpool and City drove each other to keep on winning week after week, Liverpool have obliterated their competition this time round to the extent that they simply don't have any challengers left to fend off. Whenever questioned on the topic of winning the league, Jrgen Klopp and his players have been steadfast in their refusal to look beyond the next game, maintaining a steely focus which has guarded against any form of complacency.

Although wrapping up the title as soon as possible is clearly the primary objective, Liverpool will know full well that they have given themselves a genuine chance to write their name in the history books as the best side the Premier League has ever seen. Only 13 more games lie between them and an unprecedented unbeaten 'Centurions' season, and at this stage it's not remotely unreasonable to start thinking about this as a distinct possibility. The players won't say it publicly, but they'll know it's within their sights.

Liverpool can match Arsenal's 49 game unbeaten run against Manchester City at the Etihad in early April, which, on paper at least, looks to be by far the toughest remaining obstacle in their path. Should they emerge the other side of that with the unbeaten record still intact, though, it becomes increasingly difficult to see who can possibly stop them.

Of course, unexpected things can happen in football matches, and it's by no means a foregone conclusion that Liverpool won't hit a surprise bump in the road between now and then, while they still have to face Arsenal and Chelsea afterwards. That said, given this side's collective capacity to find solutions to virtually every scenario it's confronted with and with such a vast array of options within the squad for Klopp to choose from you'd back them to continue coming up with the answers to every question thrown their way in the weeks to come.

While some might suggest the 'Invincibles' talk is merely an unnecessary distraction to the main task at hand, it can arguably work the opposite way, as a powerful source of motivation for Liverpool to aspire towards, a tangible target to keep their motivation right until the very end, even once the title is mathematically beyond doubt.

Regardless of whether they do or don't manage to achieve such an incredible feat, they'll still have written one of the most memorable chapters in the club's history and go down as legends who'll be spoken about for generations to come (which they arguably are already).

But if they can go all the way and lift that shiny gold trophy along with the big silver one, it would end the 30 year wait in a manner so spectacular that not even the most optimistic of supporters could possibly have dreamt of.

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Liverpool can use Arsenal's 'Invincibles' tag as a source of motivation rather than a distraction - Liverpool.com