Premier League: The Match That Defined The Season
Jurgen Klopp won his first trophy for Liverpool, but another goal remained as unfulfilled as unrequited love – the Premier League title.
He had torn apart his narrative of being the manager that can’t win the big match when a trophy was on the line. Now he set his team on course to end another painful narrative – no league title in three decades.
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The Reds started the Premier League season with a mad sprint, winning their first eight matches against the likes of Leicester, Arsenal, Chelsea, and a feisty newly-promoted Sheffield United.
The defending champions started like a wayward carnival roller coaster, winning five of their first eight matches.
They lost to Norwich City and Wolves while drawing against Tottenham. It was the injury bug that did the most damage to Pep Guardiola‘s club as they lost center back Aymeric Laporte and forward Leroy Sane to serious knee injuries before the calendar turned to September.
Going into the ninth matchday, Liverpool had earned all 24 available points while Manchester City had earned 16.
The Reds went to Old Trafford to face Manchester United with a 17-match winning streak dating back to the previous season, one short of Manchester City’s record. Jurgen Klopp stated the following at the pre-match press conference:
"We are not nervous because of the winning streak and history we could make. We are pretty relaxed. On Sky when they made a combined XI made up of the Liverpool XI, it was a joke, like building a banana skin. We are in a circus. I’m not influenced by it. (Via: talksport.com)"
Liverpool needed an Adam Lallana goal in the 84th minute to escape with a draw. Winning streak snapped. Meanwhile, Manchester City bounced back from their shock loss to Wolves by knocking off Crystal Palace, which cut their deficit to just six points.
The next week, the Reds started another winning streak by beating Tottenham and then Aston Villa. City kept pace with two victories of their own, which set the stage for their match-up at Anfield on November 10th.