The cheapest ticket going for £675, pubs preparing to be drunk dry and even special edition pies! Mail Sport hits the streets of Liverpool as fans gear up for wild title celebrations to banish Covid memories

It is just before 7.30am and we are about to embark on a tour of Liverpool and the surrounding areas to get a feel for the enormity of the occasion that awaits at Anfield on Sunday.

We will head to the training base at Kirkby to talk to Arne Slot before heading to the stadium, the pubs and cafes of the L4 postcode, before zipping across to the city centre and waterfront, strolling past the Royal Liver Building and the Cavern Club.

But the best place to start when looking to paint a picture of how much Sunday means is the back garden. Not any garden in particular, but just to have a think about the backyards of Liverpool fans.

Why? Because these were the location for thousands of parties across Merseyside on June 25, 2020, when Liverpool’s 19th title was confirmed. The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown rules meant it was not possible for fans to congregate in their usual spots, although plenty tell us how they did bend the guidelines.

Our opening gambit to every fan we speak to is to ask how much winning number 20 will mean to them — and the reply from nearly everyone starts with a tale about how the parties, parades and sense of euphoria were stripped away by Covid.

‘It was just me and my dad in our garden playing You’ll Never Walk Alone over the neighbours’ fence,’ says Abigail Rudkin, a local artist. ‘It was bittersweet, it felt quite lonely in a way that we could not celebrate together.’

Another fan, a school teacher who asks not to be named, recalls: ‘I’d bought a decent bottle of vintage champagne and had some smoke bombs. I let them off and drank my champagne out of the bottle in the back garden. The three of us who sit together at the match did a group call and had a virtual drink together.’

John Gibbons, a presenter on the excellent Anfield Wrap podcast, says: ‘I went round to my friend’s house, there were four of us sitting in different parts of the garden all spaced out on these deckchairs, drinking cans of lager. Although it was a great night, we missed out on a lot. We couldn’t go to Anfield to welcome the champions and enjoy them.

‘What I am looking forward to on Sunday is to just say “thank you” to the players. It is a celebration, but I want to clap them, cheer them on and sing their names.’

It is clear Liverpool fans never got to fully enjoy that last title win. So in many ways, Sunday — if they get a point or more against Tottenham — will be their first proper celebration of becoming champions since 1990. Many of those we speak to were not even born in 1990. Plenty of others are no longer with us. Some were sitting on their dad’s shoulders back then, but will now have kids of their own alongside them at the game.

On Sunday, glasses will be raised to those who have indeed been lost along the way. This win will be for them as much as the new generation of supporters.

‘What I told my lad this week was to celebrate each trophy like it is your first and last,’ says Terry Burke, sporting a high-vis jacket on a cigarette break near Anfield. ‘When I was his age we were winning machines — I never thought I’d have to wait half my life to see another title!’

Another, 85-year-old Jim Doyle, will toast a 15th league title of his lifetime. He recalls doing a Zoom quiz with his two sons when they won it in 2020 and, when asked if he ever foresaw such a long wait between 18 and 19, says: ‘No way.

‘When you consider the players we’ve had, and I am talking about local players such as Steven Gerrard, Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman, Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher, we should have won it at least once.

‘We nearly won it under Gerard Houllier, Rafa Benitez and Brendan Rodgers, but it was just a lot of nearlies. This one puts us equal with Manchester United on the number of title wins, so that’s always a good thing!’

A younger fan, 27-year-old Tommy Harper, says: ‘For most of my childhood I thought we would never win it. The Roy Hodgson days, the near misses with Rafa and Rodgers — it seemed like it never would come.

‘Then Covid hit and we walked the league with no fans there to experience it — imagine that. Now we can win it, at home, in front of fans…finally…hopefully.’

All these anecdotes are heart-warming and most of them have happy endings. Our smoke bomb friend has told his neighbour she can safely leave her washing out without it ending up smelling this weekend as he will be at Anfield.

Abigail will be present too, with her dad — and her mum will be at a local pub to soak up the atmosphere.

‘It means everything to me, getting to be in the ground with my dad,’ she says. ‘I don’t think they will be able to get me out of the ground!’

There has been a sense of expectation in the city for weeks and a sense of dread for Evertonians. Those going to London for the Toffees’ match at Chelsea might be best advised to make a weekend of it, as Liverpool will be painted red.

The Home Baked bakery in the shadows of the Kop is getting prepared, with a special edition pie that reads ‘Champions 20’ on the pastry. Pubs are prepared to be drunk dry, though one barman — we will not name the pub to save his job — says: ‘I am tempted to pull a sickie on Sunday if we win it so I can have a night on the ale in town! I am joking, of course, but it will be one of the days of our lives.’

The police are ready, too. Merseyside Police declined to comment on Friday when asked, but there will be a greater presence on the streets. Parties will go on long into the night if Liverpool become champions, but the police are not expecting much trouble.

That will be helped by the fact the opposition are Tottenham. With a Europa League semi-final on the horizon, Spurs fans will certainly not mind watching Liverpool celebrate as that will mean their bitter rivals, Arsenal, are the nearly-men again.

Tickets are reselling for mega-money. The cheapest one Mail Sport could find online was £675, though the club are clamping down on touts, with lifetime bans for those breaking rules.

One man who has had to give up his ticket is Peter Clarkson, a Main Stand season ticket holder since 1990. He is at his godson’s wedding near Middlesbrough and genuinely looked into getting a helicopter back to Liverpool to make it in time.

Clearly this is a city on edge, but in a good way. It is not over until the fat lady sings, but she is warming up her vocal cords. How the Anfield crowd will sing, too, belting out their anthems.

Fans are all a bit giddy, but there is one bloke who is staying calm — manager Slot. Asked about being an inch away from glory, he said: ‘Yeah, but I prefer to get my mind on that inch and not on what happens afterwards, because there is still an inch to be done.’

Slot, whose family will be at Anfield for the match, has kept a low profile in his first year as boss, but is mobbed by selfie and autograph hunters when he does pop out, as he did on Thursday to visit a supermarket.

The champagne is on ice around the city and corks may well be popped at around 6.30pm. For many, it will signify the end of a 35-year wait to properly party — and the start of one of the best nights of their lives.