Arne Slot discovers his skeleton key who can UNLOCK title bid

It’s sometimes easy to forget that Harvey Elliott DID make his Liverpool breakthrough last season.

Although he’s been in and around the first-team squad since his teenage years, it was at the end of last season that it appeared he’d finally arrived as a key first-team player.

READ MORE: Virgil van Dijk drops EMOTIONAL contract hint

Liverpool’s season had drifted by that point but Elliott nonetheless grabbed the starting shirt from Dominik Szoboszlai - scoring once and adding three assists in the final four games of the season.

There was no going back.

When Arne Slot came to the club it was expected that Elliott might pick up where he left off. He featured in pre-season but was unable to force his way into the Dutchman’s plans at the outset of the campaign.

He managed seven measly minutes across the first three Premier League matches of the season before a devastating foot injury suffered on duty with England’s under-21s. It was a case of out of sight, out of mind as the Reds racked up the wins which took them to the summit of the Premier League table - as well as the Champions League group phase.

By the time he got back fit, there was no space in the plans of Slot for the 21-year-old.

Elliott unlocks Brentford

Indeed heading into the transfer window it was speculated that Elliott could leave - either on loan or else for a transfer fee to bolster the Reds’ squad options elsewhere. But just recently there’s been signs of a breakthrough all over again.

He’s been back in contention since the start of December, appearing frequently as a substitute in the league and starting cup matches against Southampton - in which he scored - and Accrington Stanley.

Elliott’s barely racked up an hour’s worth of Premier League football to this point but he nonetheless delivered his biggest intervention of the season against Brentford on Saturday.

With the clock ticking down on Liverpool’s away day at the Gtech Community Stadium - and Slot desperately requiring some creativity against a so-called “low block”, Elliott was conjured from the bench.

His impact was arguably as crucial as Darwin Nunez’s - delivering the pre-assist for the Uruguayan’s first goal before adding an assist in his own right for the game-clinching second.

For a Liverpool team who boss the majority of possession, they have recently come up against teams content to defend deep and frustrate their chance-making capabilities.

They have a midfield which can be guilty of going side-to-side and when Mo Salah isn’t on song then they struggle for gilt-edged chances.

So it’s time for Slot to utilise the skills of Elliott a lot more.

He is adept at picking apart opposition defences, with a little shoulder drop here or an incisive forward pass there. He boasts creativity in abundance and offers Liverpool something different than what they usually get from their starters.

Elliott can be Arne Slot’s skeleton key and one which could pick the lock on the Premier League title.

READ MORE: Richard Hughes GENIUS £52m gamble pays off