It's not like he never had a full season - he had, just the season before, actually. And he was brilliant. So it wasn't really a bizarre statement that he can be a regular starter and very important player for us, like he was the last time we won the league.
You're talking like I'm the Liverpool fan waiting for the next year to be our year, despite not winning the league for decades. My league "was won" not so long ago and there are a lot of players who left their injury problems aside with age, Van Persie or Robben, for example.