Liverpool have come flying out of the traps with five wins from their first five Premier League games to date, so can this great start continue and where does it stand in terms of the Reds’ previous campaigns?
Many people fancied Liverpool to give Manchester City a run for their money going into the 2018/19 season but few could have predicted the sensational start Jurgen Klopp’s men have made, leaving them sitting joint top of the table.
Of course, as the saying goes, one swallow does not make a summer, or even five, and Chelsea - who also boast a 100 per cent record and a strong looking City side - will be sure to be there or thereabouts.
Even so, a win on Saturday against Southampton will not just consolidate the Reds’ place at the top of the table, it will also confirm this as one of the club’s best beginnings to a top-flight campaign in years.
1990/91 Season – 8 Straight Wins
Having claimed their 18th title just three months before Liverpool weren’t prepared to give up their crown easily as they won their first eight matches at the start of the 1990/91 campaign. But a defeat at Highbury to fellow pace-setters Arsenal, who would only lose one game all season, dented the Reds’ challenge, not to mention the shock resignation of Manager Kenny Dalglish as they ultimately lost out to George Graham’s men despite enjoying the best start to a season in the club’s recent history.
1978/79 Season – 6 Straight Wins
Liverpool had lost out to Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest in the previous season and Bob Paisley’s men looked to regain English football’s top prize in style as they won their first six games of the 1978/79 campaign, in an astonishing run of 10 victories from their first 11 matches. They were pretty tight at the back too, only conceding 16 goals in a season which they lost just four times on their way to another league championship.
1987/88 Season – 10 Wins from First 11 Games
Liverpool would play their first three games of the season on the road due to essential repairs to a Victorian sewer under the Kop; and it would be one of those matches that prevented them from achieving their best ever start to a season. The Reds only dropped points in one of their first 11 games, away at West Ham, eventually bagging 31 points from a possible 33, as they cruised to their 17th league title.
2008/09 Season - 8 Wins from First 10 Games
Liverpool only lost twice all season in the 2008/09 campaign and recorded 25 victories in what is one of their best Premier League seasons ever. With eight wins and two draws in their first 10 games Rafael Benitez’s men looked to have thrown down the gauntlet as they set about challenging Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United but it would be the 11 draws that would be their downfall as they eventually finished second; four points behind the men from Old Trafford.
1974/75 Season – 5 Wins from First 6 Games
New manager Bob Paisley had a tough act to follow replacing the outgoing Reds legend Bill Shankly for the 1974/75 season after 15 years at the helm, but he showed no signs of stage fright as Liverpool won five and drew one of their first six games. Even so, the impressive start wasn’t enough to prevent the Anfield side finishing empty handed as Derby County won the title in one of the closest top-flight seasons ever with the top ten teams separated by just eight points.
