There are some soccer fans who have played down Liverpool‘s achievements this season, despite the Reds closing in on Premier League glory.
The suggestion from those critics is that Liverpool has benefited from Manchester City’s surprising drop-off this term, as well as a title challenge from Arsenal which has been hindered by injuries to key players.
Considering the destination of the league title has pretty much been known for some time, as have the teams that will finish in the bottom three, those neutrals that say this hasn’t been the most exciting Premier League season probably do have a point. But that does not take anything away from the season that Liverpool is having — and the stats show that the Reds are right up there with some of the best title-winning teams.
Prior to Sunday’s loss to Fulham, Liverpool had collected 73 points from 30 games, with only eight teams in Premier League history having picked up more points than the Reds after that amount of games.
Unsurprisingly, Liverpool’s 83 points from during the 2019-20 season is the most any Premier League team has ever collected from the first 30 games of a campaign.
The other teams are Manchester City, with 81 points in 2017-18 and 77 points in 2018-19; Chelsea, with 77 points in 2004-05 and 75 points in 2005-06; Manchester United, with 75 points in 2006-07 and 77 points in 2012-13; and Arsenal, with 74 points in 2003-04.
It will comfort Liverpool supporters to hear that the biggest lead that any team has had after 30 games and not gone on to win the title is just three points: Newcastle in 1995-96, Manchester United in 2011-12, and Arsenal in 2022-23.
(Image: 2019 Getty Images)
Liverpool had a 12-point lead heading into the weekend-just-gone’s round of fixtures, and the lead still stands at a healthy 11 points despite Sunday’s loss to Fulham, after Arsenal was held to a 1-1 draw by Everton on Saturday.
With that 11-point lead and just 21 more points to play for, Liverpool knows that 11 more points will be enough to clinch the title, even if Arsenal pulls off the improbable and wins all seven of its remaining games.
It is technically possible for Liverpool to become champion after just two more games, but it would require Slot’s men to beat West Ham and Leicester in their next two games, with Arsenal losing to Brentford and Ipswich.
There is a decent possibility that Liverpool will have the chance to confirm its status as champion when Arsenal visits Anfield in the third-to-last game of the season.
