Liverpool Football Club spent the final weeks of the 2019-20 Premier League season chasing records, the title secured with still seven games remaining to be played.
Would they become the first champion ever to win every home game? No. Would they become the first LFC team to win 30 games? Yes. Would they win more games than any EPL team, ever? No, but they did tie the mark. Would they accumulate the most points? No.
And then there's this question: Are they the best ever to grace the Premier League’s 20 home grounds?
That’s a more subjective discussion, but one we figured to be worth pondering.
This is our conclusion:
1. Manchester City, 2017-18
- Record (W-L-D): 32-2-4
- Points: 100
- Goal differential: plus-79
- Title margin: 19 points (Manchester United)
- Other trophies: League Cup
Overview: The difference between City’s 100-point team and Liverpool’s 2020 dominance is that City flat destroyed so many of its opponents. This team’s goal differential of plus-79 is the largest in league history, and so is its goal total of 106. They scored five or more goals six times, including one September stretch of three in a row in which the composite score was 16-0. Reliable striker Sergio Aguero scored 21 league goals, 30 in all competitions, and Raheem Sterling scored 18 in the Premier League. The depth of the squad was underscored by the fact 17 players made double-figure league appearances. City still had five games to play when it secured the title April 15.
2. Liverpool, 2019-20
- Record: 32-3-3
- Points: 99
- Goal differential: plus-52
- Title margin: 18 points (Manchester City)
- Other trophies: Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup
Overview: Liverpool were just weeks away from clinching their first Premier League title when soccer in England — and every major sports competition in the world — was shut down in the second week of March by the COVID-19 pandemic. There were concerns during the three-month break regarding whether the Premier League would return, and possibly whether the season would be declared “null and void”, but Project Restart proved a success, and the Reds needed basically a week to complete their title run. No team ever had won the title with seven games remaining. Winning the Premier League for the first time was an obsession among LFC fans, and the players and staff adopted this to the exclusion of other competitions. They became ruthlessly efficient in their advance and, they did not lose until Feb. 29. Of their 32 wins, 13 came by a single goal.
Watch Liverpool's final game of the season on Sunday on DAZN in Canada
3. Manchester City, 2018-19
- Record: 32-4-2
- Points: 98
- Goal differential: plus-72
- Title margin: 1 point (Liverpool)
- Other trophies: FA Cup, League Cup, FA Community Shield
Overview: Manchester City’s previous team was better, but this one had to be tougher to survive the greatest two-team title race in league history. From Feb. 3 to season’s end, City won every game it played. Liverpool’s unbeaten run lasted even longer, starting Jan. 3, but the Reds had four draws along the way. And that became the difference in the title race. City’s last real chance to let the title slip came against Leicester City in a Monday night game May 6, but legendary defender Vincent Kompany ripped a shot from beyond the box in the 70th minute to break a 0-0 tie and put City in position to clinch with a final-day win over Brighton. Aguero (21) and Sterling (17) again were the goal leaders, with Leroy Sane scoring 10.
4. Manchester United, 2007-08
- Record: 27-5-6
- Points: 87
- Goal differential: plus-58
- Title margin: 2 points (Chelsea)
- Other trophies: Champions League, FA Community Shield
Overview: Cristiano Ronaldo made such an overwhelming impression at Real Madrid last decade that it’s hard to recall him marauding through defenses at Man U. But he was great then, too, and this was the season when he became the player who eventually was so dominant in Spain. He scored 31 EPL goals, and Carlos Tevez (14) and Wayne Rooney (12) made this a ferocious attack. The Red Devils held off a furious chase from a loaded Chelsea squad — which did not lose once from Dec. 23 to the end of the season — and also defeated Chelsea in the Champions League final.
5. Arsenal, 2003-04
- Record: 26-0-12
- Points: 90
- Goal differential: plus-47
- Title margin: 11 points (Chelsea)
- Other trophies: None
Overview: The team they still call “the Invincibles” never was “vinced” but did allow itself to be drawn a dozen times. They still are the only squad to get through a Premier League season without a defeat, and they did it with such panache. Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp and the sublime Thierry Henry, who scored 30 goals, electrified the quaint Highbury ground Arsenal still called home then.
6. Chelsea, 2004-05
- Record: 29-1-8
- Points: 95
- Goal differential: plus-57
- Title margin: 12 points (Arsenal)
- Other trophies: League Cup
Overview: This was the team that introduced Jose Mourinho to England, and it was a warning that the EPL never would be the same. At his opening press conference, he called himself “a special one,” and that soon became his nickname in the media, but the Blues backed up that audacity with the style of football that has come to define him. His teams are willing to squeeze the life out of a game if necessary, and this Chelsea team allowed only 15 goals all season, still the league record.
7. Manchester United, 2008-09
- Record: 28-4-6
- Points: 90
- Goal differential: plus-44
- Title margin: 4 points (Liverpool)
- Other trophies: Club World Cup, League Cup, FA Community Shield
Overview: In terms of points earned, this team was superior to its Man U predecessor, but it’s hard to rank ahead of a team that won such an amazing title race and pulled off the EPL/Champions League double. And this group was not as dynamic on offense, with Ronaldo scoring 18 goals and the Red Devils managing just 68, a figure matched or exceeded by three other teams. This team relied heavily on its depth and the ingenuity of manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who helped Man U outlast second-place Liverpool and its more dynamic attack.
8. Chelsea 2016-17
- Record: 30-5-3
- Points: 93
- Goal differential: plus-52
- Title margin: 7 points (Tottenham Hotspur)
- Other trophies: None
Overview: Only four teams have won 30 games in a Premier League season, even though the schedule once consisted of 42 games. This is the least celebrated of that quartet, and it is odd that the manager that produced this title, Antonio Conte, was dismissed just one year after Chelsea celebrated it. Although Conte was known for his defensive acumen, this team came within a goal of leading the league, behind 20 from Diego Costa and 16 from Eden Hazard.
9. Manchester United, 1998-99
- Record: 22-3-13
- Points: 79
- Goal differential: plus-43
- Title margin: 1 point (Arsenal)
- Other trophies: Champions League, FA Cup
Overview: Even though this team did not dominate in the way the others did, how does one exclude a squad that won the three biggest trophies available to an English club — all within the space of 10 days. Crazy, right? League title: clinched May 16. FA Cup final: won May 22. Champions League title: won May 26, in a furious comeback that included two goals in injury time that secured a 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich. The Red Devils featured perhaps the deepest midfield of any Premier League team, ever: Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs. Keane and Scholes both missed the Champions League final. Man U won, anyway. Keane missed most of the FA Cup final after he was injured. Man U won, anyway. There may never have been a more resilient, determined soccer team.