With a puff of his cheeks and pause for reflection, James Milner admits it is “damn hard” to win a Premier League title.
Twice he achieved the feat on the final day of the season with Manchester City.
Now he is prepared for a hat-trick of dramatic finishes as he bids to upset his former club and end Liverpool’s long wait for top-flight success.
The Reds have been champions 18 times in their illustrious history, but not since 1990 have they been crowned kings of English football.
“It is always so hard to win the Premier League,” said Milner, the only title winner in the current Reds squad.
“Two other times I won, it was the last game of the season. It looks like it will go down to the death again.
“There are so many changes in a title race, we’ve seen it so many times before. We won it at City against QPR in incredible fashion and seen changes in this title race as well.
“So much can happen in the five games we’ve got left. That is why everyone loves the Premier League. It is special any time you win the Premier League, to be honest. It is that damn hard to do.
“You are going up against what a lot of people have said is one of the best-ever Premier League teams in City.
Milner has won two Premier League titles in City colours.
“The players they have, the points they have, so for us to go toe-to-toe with them and get over the line, hopefully. But if not, you have to look back and say we have done everything we can – and go again next year.”
Liverpool have proved in recent weeks they will fight in every game for the results that will stop City retaining the title they won in record-breaking fashion last season.
A comeback win at Southampton, which followed late 2-1 wins over Fulham and Spurs, put them two points clear of Pep Guardiola’s side, who have a game in hand.
Fresh from their 2-0 midweek success over Porto in their Champions League last-eight first-leg tie, Milner’s men host Chelsea today in arguably their toughest game of the run-in.
It was the Blues who ultimately dashed Liverpool’s hopes in 2014 with a 2-0 win at Anfield, when Demba Ba’s crucial opener followed Steven Gerrard’s unfortunate slip.
That allowed City to pinch the title with a final-day win over West Ham – just as they had two years earlier thanks to Sergio Aguero’s iconic injury-time strike over QPR.
Milner played his part in both those triumphs for the Etihad outfit, but there are no divided loyalties for the 33-year-old this time around.
“There will not be any tug of emotion,” he added. “Not on that side.
“I had a great five years there, won every trophy in England. There’s no extra motivation. The motivation is to beat a very good team.
“Just to win the Premier League again would be amazing. It will be very difficult.
“The way we do that is concentrate on our own games. Of course they are in the driving seat. We could win all our games and it’s not enough, but it’s down to us to keep putting pressure on them and getting results.
Milner is driven by Liverpool’s past failures in finals.
“We are not taking our eye off the ball in the Champions League either.
“It’s important to keep recovering in an intense part of the season, but use that experience we’ve gained over the last few years and keep focusing on our own football.”
Those experiences include defeats in three major finals; a League Cup loss to Manchester City in 2016, the Europa League defeat to Sevilla later in that campaign, and then heartbreak in last season’s Champions League showpiece against Real Madrid.
Winning the league would help ease some of that pain, according to Milner, who also won the League Cup and FA Cup while at City. “They will make it sweeter,” he added.
And where some may doubt the team after losing such big games, Milner, capped 61 times by England, said: “I think I see winners. That has been the thing we’ve been missing in my time here.
“We’ve lost a few finals and have to keep going, to keep getting there and improving as a team, which we have done, year on year.
“You see the manner, not just in the way we play football, but keep going until the end when things do not look good. We dig deep, come again.
“But, of course, we are not winners yet. You can’t be winners until you actually win something. We know the potential is there.
“I think they have what it takes. You have seen how we have improved over the past few years.
“You look at times this season when we have perhaps not played so well, but still got results.
“We have great determination to keep going when things are not going well. So it is all there, the quality is there, and it’s a young team as well.
“It doesn’t mean we will get over the line, but we are getting closer each year and we’ve got a good chance. We just have to take care of our games.”
All eyes, and pressure, will be on quadruple-chasing City. They face top-four hopefuls Spurs and Manchester United in their final six games and are also involved in the Champions League quarter finals.
But Milner said: “You just want to concentrate on your job and that’s what we’re doing at the moment.
“We have learned that quickly and learned a lot. There is always going to be a lot of talk when you are at a club like Liverpool and the long wait [for the title]. But you can see from performances and the way the boys are going about their business that our focus is on what we can control, performing every game and not taking our eye off the ball.”
