There’s a consensus developing that the Reds are in a bit of a slump: only three wins in nine games, two defeats in succession away from home in the Champions League (this season) and a perceived lack of fluency from Liverpool’s main weapon in 2017/18, the attacking trio of Mane, Firmino and Salah. Other potential explanations for the ‘struggle’ have been a lack of creativity from midfield and even not enough cover at right-back, without changing the preferred centre-back partnership of Gomez and Van Dijk.

The focus for this comparison though will be on the attacking unit that was pivotal for so many memorable performances last season, and the sheer volume of goals we were scoring. However, it seems unfair to compare early season performances this season with the peak of last. Surely it’s fairer to compare the same time period instead? I did something similar with the exact same teams going back three years in this analysis on a team level a couple of weeks ago. This one will look at the first eleven Premier League matches in 2017/18 and 2018/19.

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