7 Stats That Put Into Context the Absurdity of Liverpool's Season

24 January 2020 12:27

Liverpool are waltzing towards the Premier League title, and doing so with a relentlessness ​that we have never seen before in the history of English football.

Their latest ​victory over Wolves, albeit a hard-fought and perhaps slightly fortuitous one, put them 16 clear at the top of the division. 

They can afford to lose six of their 15 remaining games and would still be guaranteed the title; a margin for error they have afforded themselves with a record-smashing start to the season. It's difficult to grasp just how good they have been with words alone - so we'll let the numbers do the talking. 

Head and Shoulders Above the Rest

FBL-ENG-PR-WOLVES-LIVERPOOL

No team in English football has ever really gotten close to what ​Liverpool are doing at present. We can't yet call them 'invincible' nor may we be able to come the end of the campaign, but at this moment in time they are certainly untouchable. 

They have taken 67 points from a possible 69 - meaning they have amassed at least five more points from the opening 23 games of a season than any other side. That's true even when you assume three points for a win to include the teams of ancient history.

Fine Margins

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If there is a criticism - and trust me, the internet will always find a criticism - then it is that the performances haven't always been entirely convincing.

The narrow victory at Molineux was the latest in a fairly sizeable catalogue of wins, in fact, in which Liverpool have failed to hit the heights they can, but emerged with three points anyway. It was their tenth league win of the season which came by the margin of a single goal, so either this team are just exceptionally lucky, or they have the winning mentality. 

I know where my money is. 

Outpacing the Centurions

Raheem Sterling,Joe Gomez

When Manchester City registered 100 points in the 2017/18 season, it had never been done, and seemed highly likely that it would never be done again, such was the level of consistency it took to attain such a tally. 


Fast forward less than two years, however, and we're staring in the face of a Liverpool team well capable of it. So much so, in fact, that they are five points better off at this stage (67-62) than City were during their record-breaking campaign. 

Dwarfing the Treble Winners

Nicky Butt and Roy Keane

Manchester United's famous 1998/99 team, which went on to win an unprecedented treble, represent another bastion for success in English football. 


Having won league 22 games so far this season, however, Liverpool have already won as many as United did in the entirety of that campaign...with 15 left to play. The Reds, incidentally, sit just 12 points off the tally that United side finished up on. 


To truly surpass that team they would, of course, have to complement the league title with the Champions League and the FA Cup...but even that isn't out of the picture given how they are going. 

Defensive Masterclass 

Virgil van Dijk,Jonny

The Liverpool defence might have looked a touch on the shaky side at times against Wolves, but while their record at the back might have come into question earlier in the season, that can certainly no longer be said. 


When Raul Jimenez converted Adama Traore's cross, it was the first time in 725 minutes of Premier League football that Liverpool had conceded a goal. They had kept clean sheets in their seven previous games stretching back to that 5-2 win over Everton at Anfield.


That Virgil van Dijk-Joe Gomez pairing really is the future. 

Invincible-ish​

​Arsenal's famous 2003-04 team is, quite rightly, thought of as one of the best in Premier League history. Wenger's Invincibles remain the only top-flight team, to date, to go the entire season without losing a single match.


The only factor separating Liverpool from that immortal feat, however, is framing. Now 40 league games unbeaten, they have lasted more than an entire season of football without tasting defeat...it just hasn't fallen within the confines of a single campaign. 


We'll see how that goes between now and May, but for now the Reds can settle for being one of five teams in English football to last 40 games without defeat, and just the third in the top flight of the modern era. If they can somehow make it through to full-time in April's clash with Manchester City without losing, then a draw against Aston Villa a week later would make them the first side to hit 50 - not to jinx it. 

Bouncing Back

Jurgen Klopp

The last time the Reds lost on Premier League duty was against Manchester City in January 2019. As previously mentioned, they have played 40 games since, winning 35, and amassing a stupendous total of 110 points from a possible 120. 

Stunning, really, that they weren't able to get the 2018/19 title over the line on that sort of form, but they've dusted themselves down and gone again in remarkable style.

Resilient doesn't quite do it justice.

For more from Robbie Copeland, follow him on Twitter!

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Source: 90min