Premier League champions Liverpool moved onto 92 points – the sixth highest total by any team since 1992 – with an entertaining 3-1 win at Brighton. It was only the second top flight match this season in which both teams had at least four clear-cut chances, following Burnley’s 3-0 win over Bournemouth in February.
According to Stats Zone, the Reds’ victory means they have become the fastest team in the history of English league football to reach 30 wins in a season, beating (surprise, surprise) Manchester City in 2017/18.
This was Liverpool’s 13th away league win of the season, which equals the club record. The previous two campaigns in which they clocked up a baker’s dozen on the road were 2008/09 and 2018/19. Jürgen Klopp’s side are clearly nine years ahead of schedule.
Liverpool have always played with a slightly unconventional defence at the Amex. Nothing will top the back three of Emre Can, Dejan Lovren and Gini Wijnaldum which Jürgen Klopp deployed in 2017/18, but they started the fixture last season with Fabinho in the back four alongside Virgil van Dijk.
On this occasion, Neco Williams made his first Premier League start for the club. He didn’t play at left-back in any his 81 previous games in Transfermarkt’s database, so it really was a new experience for the 19-year-old Welshman.
The other significant change saw Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain occupy Sadio Mané’s usual berth on the left of the front three. But it was Naby Keita, starting two games in a row for only the third time this season, who shaped the outcome of the match within it’s opening eight minutes.
The rest of this match analysis is for subscribers only.
[ttt-subscribe-article]
