Will 2018-19 be Liverpool's season?

Only a few days have passed since France and Croatia played arguably one of the most memorable World Cup finals in recent times. And now the focus shifts to the league season and all the top football clubs in Europe.

This reminds me of the UEFA Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Liverpool FC, another exciting final. Eventually, it turned out to be Salah's game where his World Cup dream was partially shattered and Ronaldo's last game for the Los Blancos.

Liverpool was lucky to have an easy draw in the Champions League until the quarter-final where they met Guardiola's Manchester City as they came close to ending their 6 year trophy drought but Real Madrid rolled through and still, it was not a surprise because in my opinion 'Real Madrid is at the Champions League what Rafael Nadal is at the French Open'.

So what should Liverpool expect in the upcoming season? An unstoppable attack of Salah, Firmino, Mane who have ripped apart almost every defense they played last season. A great midfield in Fabinho, Naby Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Henderson and James Milner.

The midfield looks very strong even if they offloaded Emre Can, and Wijnaldum linked with a move away from Anfield.

Their defence was not the one conceding 3 goals in the 2nd half of the season after the signing of Virgil Van Dijk and Dejan Lovren improving significantly in 2018. Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander Arnold were arguably the best fullbacks in Europe and were lethal with their crosses at crucial times.

The defence looked strong last season, only because of the great form of Lloris Karius who replaced Simon Mignolet as the goalkeeper midway through the last season. Personally, I feel Karius just doesn't deserve the criticism he had been the victim to after the Champions League Final especially when he was the one who was the main factor leading Liverpool to Final.

When Liverpool's defence was in shambles and Belgian goalkeeper Mignolet was suffering a terrible run of form, he became Klopp's first choice keeper and did an excellent job. He may be the 2nd choice keeper next season behind Allison as Liverpool are favourites to sign the Brazilian goalie.

The Liverpool board has been trying their best to strengthen their squad especially their bench strength with the signing of Swiss attacker Xherdan Shaqiri and they are also linked strongly to complete the signings of Nabil Fekir and Alisson Becker. This makes Liverpool one of the busiest clubs in the transfer window so far.

Fekir was in red hot form for Lyon last season as he scored 21 goals and set up 9 in all competitions.

Lastly, for Liverpool fans, they need not worry a lot, they started last season as underdogs for the UEFA Champions League spot behind Chelsea, Spurs and the Manchester Clubs and still finished 4th in the league. They surprised everyone by reaching the final in Europe. This season though will be different.

All eyes will be on them and fans will be expecting more from the club. With the signing of a versatile Fabinho, the arrival of Naby Keita and Shaqiri, the promotion of talented Brewster as a striker back up to Firmino and if the board tries to keep the attacking trio at the club, I have no hesitation in saying Liverpool will be the favourites for the much-awaited league season and will back themselves for at least a semi-final spot in the domestic cups and in Europe.

2018-19 may well be Liverpool’s year.