Emile Heskey knows exactly how Liverpool fans will react when they win the Premier League title.
Although their quest to go the season unbeaten ended on Saturday with a shock 3-0 loss to Watford – their first since January 2019 – they are still 22 points clear of Manchester City and are almost certain to be crowned champions.
It has been a long wait for Liverpool fans to win the title having last done so in 1990 so Heskey, who played at Anfield between 2000 and 2004, is in no doubt about the first thing they will do.
“It will be amazing for the fans, not just in England but all around the world,” he told the PA news agency. “They are sitting in front of their tellies just waiting for that moment.
“I have got friends in Lebanon, in Africa and in Asia and they are texting me non-stop because they just can’t wait to call up a Man Utd fan!
“They have had to wait a long time and they are great fans, they have stuck with them through thick and thin and they deserve it.”
Watford’s win was the first time Liverpool have been beaten in the league in 44 games as they have swept aside all that came before them.
But Jurgen Klopp’s side have still perhaps not got the recognition they deserve from outside the club and have often been referred to as lucky. Heskey thinks that is nonsense.
He said: “You earn your own luck. When you are looking at the likes of Man Utd when they were winning, they weren’t just running over teams, there were games where they were very lucky and won narrowly.
“And that is the sign of champions. A lot of games that they are winning by one goal and you are thinking, ‘Oh that was lucky’, two seasons ago they would have lost. But now they are winning and that is why they will be champions.
“I would love to play in this side, I don’t know if I would get in, I would love to play in it and love to play under a manager who is getting the best out of his team.
“He is encouraging his team and it is more like a family than a football team and that is what I like.”
