Three games to go and Liverpool are still looking over their shoulder. That tells you everything about this season.

The mathematics are simple enough now. With 35 Premier League matches played, only three clubs can still leapfrog us for Champions League qualification. Manchester City's late equaliser on Monday night might not have saved Arsenal's title charge, but it did knock Everton out of the race to catch their neighbours. Chelsea's woeful 3-1 home defeat to what was essentially Nottingham Forest's reserves earlier that day sealed their fate too.

With Fulham and Sunderland also stumbling, the pool of potential threats has shrunk dramatically. Even Aston Villa, who we're level with on points but ahead of on goal difference, managed to lose dismally at home to relegation-threatened Tottenham. The top five qualify for next season's Champions League, and we've got a six-point cushion to sixth-placed Bournemouth.

Arne Slot's side need just four points to be mathematically certain of a top-five finish. Three points would leave Bournemouth needing to overturn a nine-goal difference deficit in their final three matches. In Premier League history, Liverpool have taken fewer than three points from their last three games just four times. The most recent was last season when we managed only two points after the title was already secured.

But here's the thing that should worry every Red: this season has shown an unerring ability to find every pothole in the road. And there's a cautionary tale that sits uncomfortably in the memory banks.

The 1999-2000 season should haunt anyone getting comfortable now. Liverpool went into their final three games in a Champions League qualification spot. What followed was a masterclass in how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory: a home loss to Leicester City, a goalless stalemate with Southampton at Anfield, and then the killer blow on the final day. A 1-0 defeat at Bradford City, which kept the Yorkshire side up, was enough for Leeds United to leapfrog us into fourth.

The remaining fixtures aren't kind either. Chelsea arrive at Anfield on Saturday lunchtime, and whilst they've lost six on the bounce, they're surely due a change of fortune. Then comes the big one: a trip to Villa Park that could determine both teams' fate. Brentford at home on the final day completes what's far from a gentle run-in.

Brighton would appear to have the easier path with home games against Wolves and Manchester United either side of a Leeds United trip, though anything less than three wins kills their challenge stone dead. Brentford face title-chasing Manchester City before hosting Crystal Palace ahead of their Anfield visit. Bournemouth get City at home too, bookended by trips to Europe-chasing Fulham and an in-form Forest side.

Slot was absolutely right at the weekend when he insisted the job isn't finished. Liverpool might be firm favourites for a top-five spot, but this campaign has been defined by one consistent theme: whenever there's been a banana skin waiting, we've managed to find it with remarkable precision.

The destination is in our hands, but the journey there promises to test every nerve until the very last kick of the season.