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Liverpool can win 20th English league title this weekend to equal Man United's record

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Liverpool can win 20th English league title this weekend to equal Man United's record
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Sport

Liverpool can win 20th English league title this weekend to equal Man United's record

2025-04-18 01:19 Last Updated At:01:42

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — The countdown is on for Liverpool to clinch a record-tying 20th English top-flight title.

It could even happen this weekend.

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Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Fulham and Liverpool, at Craven Cottage, London, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Fulham and Liverpool, at Craven Cottage, London, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot celebrates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot celebrates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot celebrates with Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot celebrates with Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot celebrates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot celebrates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Should Arsenal lose at Ipswich early Sunday afternoon, Liverpool will get the chance to wrap up the Premier League championship a few hours later by beating Leicester.

Otherwise, the title could be confirmed on Wednesday when Arsenal hosts Crystal Palace — or the following weekend when Liverpool hosts Tottenham at Anfield.

It looks a certainty to happen, given Liverpool holds a 13-point lead with six games left. Needing just six more points to be certain, barring the unlikeliest of collapses, it's now a matter of when, not if.

Having led the way virtually all season, however, the Merseyside club is hardly powering to the finish line.

The big gap to Arsenal has taken the pressure off. Maybe that's why Liverpool hasn't been playing with the intensity the team has displayed for much of the campaign and is typically needed in a title run-in.

Recent wins at Anfield over Everton and West Ham were hardly convincing, while in between was a meek defeat to Fulham — just Liverpool's second Premier League loss of the campaign.

Throw in losses to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and Newcastle in the League Cup final and Arne Slot's team has begun to stumble in recent weeks. Had second-place Arsenal been able to mount more of a challenge it could have made for a grandstand finish.

Instead, Mikel Arteta's team has saved its best for the Champions League — eliminating holder Real Madrid this week — while being held to draws by Everton and Brentford in the league. Arsenal has only won two of its last seven Premier League games, giving Liverpool the luxury of not having to be anywhere near its best at a time when its title credentials should have been put under pressure.

A 20th league title would see Liverpool equal Manchester United's record and it looks well placed to go on a set a new benchmark before its great rival gets back into contention at the top of English soccer.

It was Liverpool that once held the record of 18 titles, but two decades of dominance for United under former manager Alex Ferguson saw the club win 13 league crowns from 1993-2013. Liverpool didn't win any titles in that time and ended a 30-year wait to be champion in 2020.

While title number 20 is now within touching distance, United is languishing in the bottom half of the standings and in need of a major rebuild under head coach Ruben Amorim. It hasn't been involved in a title race since Ferguson retired in 2013, despite second-place finishes in 2018 and 2021 when United was 19 and 12 points adrift, respectively, of champion Manchester City.

Liverpool is already making plans for the future. Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk have been tied to contract extensions, ending months of uncertainty and ensuring its two most influential players will remain at Anfield.

“Liverpool should be able to challenge for titles in the upcoming years,” Van Dijk said this week. “Whatever happens in terms of players going out, players coming in, I think it should be a big summer. I think they’re planning to make it a big summer, so we all have to trust the board to do the right job."

With City needing to replace the departing Kevin De Bruyne, while other key players like Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan are in the latter stages of their careers, there is no guarantee Pep Guardiola will be able to mount a title challenge next season.

Arsenal, runner-up the past two seasons, is still to prove it can get over the line in a title race.

Liverpool, meanwhile, looks ahead of schedule in Slot's first year and should have significant amounts to spend in the transfer market after only making one signing in the last offseason — Federico Chiesa.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Fulham and Liverpool, at Craven Cottage, London, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Fulham and Liverpool, at Craven Cottage, London, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot celebrates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot celebrates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot celebrates with Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot celebrates with Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot celebrates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot celebrates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S, maker of blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy, said Friday its CEO was stepping down by “mutual agreement” with the company's board of directors, citing “recent market challenges” and a steep decline in the company's share price.

Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen's departure comes a week after the company downgraded its sales and profits forecast, and follows a more than 50% decline in the company's shares since mid-2024. Shares had skyrocketed after the introduction of Wegovy and diabetes medicine Ozempic, which are both based on the same basic ingredient, semaglutide.

At the peak, the company's market capitalization - or the combined price of all its shares - exceeded Denmark's annual gross domestic product and made it Europe's most valuable company, a title it has since lost to software maker SAP.

The company said May 7 that Wegovy sales in the U.S. had been undercut by cheaper replica drugs produced by so-called compounding pharmacies using active ingredients of patented drugs in case of shortage. The Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. drug regulator, has said however that the shortages have eased and the replicas will have to cease in the coming months.

The drugs are part of a wave of obesity medications known as GLP-1 receptor agonists that also includes another Novo weight loss drug, Saxenda. They have soared in popularity due to the amount of weight people lose while taking the injections.

On Sunday a study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing people lost more weight using competitor drug Zepbound, made by Eli Lilly of Indianapolis. The study, the first head-to-head comparison of the two, was funded by Lilly. Novo Nordisk's share price is down 54% from its peak in June 2024. Its U.S.-listed shares fell another 3% in morning trading Friday.

The company, headquartered in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, praised a “significant growth journey and transformation” led by Jorgensen during his eight years as CEO. He has been with the company since 1991.

“The changes are, however, made in light of the recent market challenges Novo Nordisk has been facing, and the development of the company’s share price since mid-2024,” the company said in a statement. The board and Jorgensen “have jointly concluded that initiating a CEO succession is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders.”

Jorgensen will continue as CEO “for a period” to support a smooth transition.

—-

AP Health Writer Tom Murphy contributed from Indianapolis.

Boxes for the medications Wegovy and Zepbound are arranged for a photograph in California on Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/JoNel Aleccia)

Boxes for the medications Wegovy and Zepbound are arranged for a photograph in California on Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/JoNel Aleccia)

FILE - Novo Nordisk headquarters in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

FILE - Novo Nordisk headquarters in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

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