Liverpool’s numbers game

It’s still February, yet Liverpool are only 12 points away from ending their 30-year wait to land the Premier League title. After three decades of being nearly men in a tournament that the club dominated in the 1970s and 1980s, the club’s 19th league title is within reach.

Since Liverpool last won the title in 1990, they have seen bitter rivals Manchester United overtake them to become England’s most successful club side (with 20 league titles to Liverpool’s 18), as well as league domination from clubs such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.

However, just winning the title doesn’t begin to demonstrate the relentless football machine that Liverpool have been this season. Jürgen Klopp’s Reds have steamrolled the opposition, and have broken all kinds of records already. When they finally win the Premier League, possibly in March (the season ends in May), Liverpool will become the first English team to be domestic, European and club world champions in the same calendar year. Here are some of the more eye-catching numbers so far.

18 - The joint record for the most consecutive wins in the league. Manchester City set the record in the 2017-18 season, and Liverpool can go one better if they beat Watford this Saturday.

2 - Liverpool have amassed a ridiculous 79 points this season, out of 81 available so far. The team has only drawn one of the 27 games played so far, dropping two points against Manchester United in October. The Reds have won the rest of their matches.

79 - The Manchester United team of 1998-99 is often considered one of the best club sides of the modern era. That season, under Sir Alex Ferguson, United won a historic treble of the league, the Champions League and the FA Cup. They won the Premier League with 79 points, a haul that Liverpool have already equalled this season, with 11 games still to go.

21 - Liverpool have won 21 consecutive home games this season, equalling a previous league record set by their predecessors in the 1971-72 season, under legendary manager Bill Shankly. Liverpool haven’t lost at their home ground of Anfield since April 2017. They are also four games away from equalling the record for going unbeaten in the league. They are currently on 45. Arsène Wenger’s “Invincibles" Arsenal team hold the record, from the time they went 49 games unbeaten between 2003-04.