Liverpool's Premier League title journey in numbers

At the start of the season, the BBC asked 30 of their experts to predict the Premier League top four for the 2024-25 season. In total, 19 believed Manchester City would retain their fifth successive title and 11 predicted Arsenal would win the title after two close second-place finishes.

No one predicted Liverpool would finish top of the table. In fact, only two of the 30 experts thought The Kop would finish second: Stephen Warnock and Fara Williams, two former Liverpool players.

Eight months later, with a convincing 5-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in round 34, Liverpool officially became the Premier League champion of the 2024/25 season and brought home the 20th national championship in the club's history, thereby equaling Manchester United's record.

Numbers don't lie

Some still believe that Liverpool's success is simply down to luck, or poor form and bad luck from their opponents. However, the statistics have proven that Arne Slot's team has been the best team in the Premier League for a very long time.

In particular, the Anfield team has only lost 2 matches in 34 rounds so far, an impressive achievement that helped them win the Premier League title for the first time since the 2019/20 season. This is also the first time since 1990 that Liverpool has won the English championship at home in front of a large number of fans. In 2020, the Red Devils were determined to be champions after Manchester City lost to Chelsea, thereby not having enough points to catch up.

Liverpool had 50 touches in Ipswich Town's box in their opening 2-0 win at Portman Road, Slot's first game in charge. Photo: Opta.

More importantly, The Kop will end the season with 234 days at the top of the rankings, an achievement that ranks among the top 10 champions capable of maintaining the top position for a season in the Premier League.

It was understandable that most pundits initially doubted Liverpool’s title chances. When Klopp announced his decision to leave Liverpool last February, there was an air of anxiety around Anfield. How could a legend who had returned Liverpool to the top of world football be replaced? Manchester United’s post-Ferguson nightmare is a lesson in how power transfer fails in modern football.

However, Liverpool seem to have broken the curse. Under the leadership of Arne Slot, "The Kop" has not only maintained its form but also flourished, surpassing all initial expectations.

The early signs are positive. Liverpool had 50 touches in Ipswich Town’s penalty area in their opening 2-0 win at Portman Road, Slot’s first game in charge. That is the most touches in the opposition box in a Premier League debut by a manager recorded by Opta since 2008-09.

How well did Liverpool play?

In addition to Mohamed Salah breaking the record for most goal involvements in a 38-game Premier League season, Liverpool also scored the most goals (80), had the most shots (591), and had the highest expected goals (xG) total (75.5). In addition, The Kop also had more shots in the box than any other team (438).

It’s interesting to compare that to last season, when Liverpool’s approach was largely focused on shot volume. In 2023-24, Klopp’s side attempted a total of 790 shots, 97 more than the second-placed team, for an average of 20.8 shots per game.

Alongside Mohamed Salah, who has broken the record for the number of goals scored in a 38-game Premier League season, Liverpool also has the strongest attack in the league. Photo: Opta.

That figure has dropped to 17.4 shots per game this season. Rather than quantity, Liverpool's quality of shots has improved significantly, with the number of shots inside the box this season rising to 74.1%. In other words, Arne Slot's team are not taking as many shots, but they are taking them closer to goal.

Having the best attack in the league is important. However, in the previous 32 Premier League seasons, only three times has a team conceded 40 or more goals and won the title (all by Manchester United).

So keeping the defence together is still important and Liverpool have done just that. The stats show Liverpool have the second best defence in the league behind Arsenal (29 goals conceded) with just 32 goals conceded in 34 games, but have the lowest xG conceded (28.9) in the league.

In fact, with the exception of Arsenal, the xG quality Liverpool face is also at least 11.4 goals lower than any other team.

By comparison, last season the Reds faced 10.9 shots per game and conceded an average of 1.22 xG per game last season. That figure has dropped to just 0.85 in 2024-25.

While xG isn't always accurate, a team with a higher xG than their opponent usually means a higher chance of winning a football match.

Besides the attack, Liverpool's defensive stats are also among the top in the league. Photo: Opta.

Arne Slot’s side are a prime example of this. In 34 Premier League games, Liverpool have finished with a higher xG in 31, and have only been outscored in away games against Arsenal, Newcastle and Everton. Tellingly, the Reds have managed to draw in all three games where they have been outplayed.

It is also worth noting that Liverpool barely made any signings in the summer transfer window. Federico Chiesa joined from Juventus, but the Italian has played just 33 minutes of Premier League football this season.

In other words, Slot has completely inherited Klopp's squad from last season. This also leads to an interesting statistic when Liverpool is the only team in the Premier League this season to have all of their starting players who have played in the 2023-24 season.

Source: https://znews.vn/liverpool-premier-league-victory-route-through-numbers-post1549575.html