ANALYSIS: Where does this Liverpool side rank among the greatest EPL-winning teams?

SINGAPORE — How does this English Premier League (EPL) winning Liverpool team in the 2019/20 season compare with other title-winning sides? Here’s a ranking of the best 10:

10. Leicester City (2015/16)

An astonishing triumph against all odds, yet it is easy to forget how good Leicester actually are during this magical season. Ordinarily a mid-table side, the Foxes suddenly found a rich vein of form under Italian manager Claudio Ranieri, and had a rock-solid defence together with star striker Jamie Vardy and creative playmaker Riyad Mahrez. They lost only three times all season and won by an impressive 10 points.

9. Chelsea (2016/17)

Antonio Conte’s managerial reign at Chelsea may be short, but his exuberant demeanour was a breath of fresh air among the Blues, who responded after a slow start with a spectacular 13-match winning run to take a stranglehold atop the league. Featuring top performances by Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and N’Golo Kante, Chelsea eventually finished with 30 wins – the first EPL side to win that many matches. They also finished seven points clear of a strong challenging pack (Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool).

8. Manchester United (2008/09)

They may have won the EPL and the Champions League the season before, but this Man United title-winning team were arguably a stronger side with Dimitar Berbatov joining an already-formidable attack featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez. Surprisingly for an Alex Ferguson-led team, it was their defence led by Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic that stood out – a staggering 14 clean sheets in a row mid-season propelled them to edge out a top-class Liverpool side under Rafael Benitez. They also won the League Cup and the Club World Cup this season.

7. Manchester United (1993/94)

This is the prototype of a dominant, formidable, consistent side. The starting XI – Peter Schmeichel; Paul Parker, Denis Irwin, Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce; Paul Ince, Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs, Andrei Kanchelskis; Eric Cantona and Mark Hughes – combined brilliance and aggression to perfection. United led for 40 of the 42 match weeks (there were 22 teams in the league back then) and won by eight points.

6. Manchester City (2018/19)

After sweeping to the title the previous season, Pep Guardiola’s majestic side were pushed to the limit by Liverpool. Two of the finest teams ever assembled slugged it out in spectacular fashion in the second half of the season, and City had to win all of their last 14 matches to pip Liverpool by a single point. It was a 98-point, 32-win effort propelled by key contributions from Raheem Sterling, David Silva and Sergio Aguero, and they added the League Cup and FA Cup for a superb domestic treble.

5. Manchester United (1998/99)

Truth be told, it was not a great EPL-winning season – Man United amassed just 22 wins and 79 points to pip Arsenal by a point. But the overall picture was stunning: this was United’s famous Treble season, in which they swept the EPL, FA Cup and the Champions League titles. With a wonderful team that included Keane, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Dwight Yorke and current manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, they showed a stubborn refusal to lose, as exemplified by their last-gasp Champions League final win over Bayern Munich.

4. Chelsea (2004/05)

Jose Mourinho might be a fading force as a manager these days, but when he first swept into the Premier League, he was a brilliant tactical mastermind. Chelsea had not won a top-flight league title for 50 years, but under the Portuguese’s guidance, they were transformed into a mind-boggling defensive powerhouse – just 15 goals conceded all season with 25 clean sheets. With stalwarts such as John Terry, Frank Lampard, Arjen Robben and Didier Drogba, they lost just once to finish with 95 points, a record that lasted until 2018.

3. Liverpool (2019/2020)

It took Liverpool 30 years to win their 19th top-flight league title, and they finally did it in extraordinarily dominant fashion – and in extraordinary circumstances too, due to the three-month break from the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The Reds’ first loss was in the 28th game, and by then they had already amassed 79 points with 26 wins and a draw, a record in Europe’s top five leagues. They opened up a 25-point lead atop the table, an EPL record, and are looking on course to set a few more league records by the time the season is over. Had the Reds not been eliminated from the FA Cup and Champions League (despite winning the European Super Cup and Club World Cup), they would have climbed over the top two.

2. Arsenal (2003/04)

Others have triumphed with a greater points tally, or won other major trophies. However, Arsenal’s 2003/04 season was singularly spectacular for one big reason: they went the entire 38-match season unbeaten, with 26 wins, 12 draws and zero defeats. Even more impressively, they earned their “Invincibles” tag not via an exceptional defence, but with a stylish attack featuring the likes of Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp and Freddie Ljungberg. Teams have come close, but none have emulated the Gunners’ immaculate league record.

1. Manchester City (2017/18)

Yes, they may be an expensively-assembled bunch, but money does not always guarantee success. That Manchester City did it so spectacularly – 100 points, 106 goals, 32 wins, all EPL records – is testament to manager Pep Guardiola’s meticulous tactical planning and his players’ phenomenal execution. Beginning the season on a 22-match unbeaten run (with an 18-match winning streak in the middle), Man City were not just winning games – they were pummelling their EPL peers by 4-0, 5-0, 7-2 scorelines. Truly breathtaking to watch as they dismantle opponents, this Man City side gets the nod as the greatest EPL-winning team.

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