The chasing pack have some task on their hands to dethrone Liverpool as Premier League champions in 2020-21.
While the Reds fell one point shy of reaching the 100 mark – a tally achieved by Manchester City in the 2017-18 campaign – Jurgen Klopp s side were dominant in ending their 30-year wait for top-flight glory.
Pep Guardiola s men were the nearest challengers but still 18 points adrift, while Manchester United in third were a whopping 33 back.
Below we have taken a look at some Opta facts that show the size of the task faced by Liverpool s rivals in bridging the gap.
3 Liverpool have remained unbeaten at Anfield in three consecutive league seasons for the first time in the club’s history. Citadel.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Win, win and win again
Liverpool were so utterly relentless in the league last term, so much so that between October 2019 and 2020 the Reds won 18 consecutive top-flight matches.
That run marked a joint-best winning run in the Premier League (Man City having also achieved the feat), while incredibly it followed a run of 17 straight wins from between March and October 2019 – the third longest streak.
Ultimately, it was a surprise defeat to Watford that brought an end to a sensational stretch. The loss to the Hornets simultaneously ended an unbeaten run of 44 Premier League games, with only Arsenal s 49-match undefeated streak, which ended in 2004, bettering that.
Home comforts and beating all comers
Anfield was a metaphorical fortress for Liverpool, who won 23 consecutive home league matches from February 2019 to June 2020.
That surpassed their own record of 21 in a row set under legendary boss Bill Shankly in 1972.
In the 2019-20 campaign, Liverpool defeated all 19 of the other sides in the Premier League, with West Ham the last team ticked off the list in January. It marked the first time in their history Liverpool had managed such an achievement.
Impressively, Man City managed to do so in each of their 2017-18 and 2018-19 title-winning campaigns, while in an interesting quirk Man Utd also defeated every team they faced in that former season.
The suspension of the Premier League as a result of the coronavirus pandemic in March meant Liverpool fell short of winning the title at the earliest date.
But when Man City were beaten 2-1 by Chelsea on June 25 the Reds still had seven games to play – the most amount of fixtures remaining for any side upon confirming the English top-flight title in history.
99 Liverpool finished the season with 99 points, the second-highest return in English top-flight history behind only Manchester City s 100 points in 2017-18. Crazy.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Back on the perch?
Manchester United s greatest manager Alex Ferguson once said his best achievement was knocking Liverpool off their perch (with an expletive thrown in for good measure).
Liverpool are back on top of the mountain, but their 19 league titles is still one fewer than the 20 of their fierce rivals.
But no team can claim to have won the top division in England in as many different decades, the Reds having triumphed in eight.
Liverpool s gap of 30 years between winning the title is the eighth longest, with Blackburn Rovers 81 the biggest wait.
