Liverpool remain five points clear at the top of the Premier League, following a tense 2-1 win over Chelsea in Jurgen Klopp‘s 150th game in the top flight.
Klopp’s side travelled to Stamford Bridge for their toughest assignment of 2019/20 to date, but passed with flying colours.
Trent Alexander-Arnold fired the Reds in front with a superb strike, before Roberto Firmino headed home to double his side’s lead.
N’Golo Kante pulled a goal back in a less-impressive second half from Liverpool, but they held on for a huge victory.
Here are five key statistics to arise from the game.
Winning Run Continues
We’ll only truly appreciate the brilliance of this Liverpool team in years to come, looking back and realising just how special they were.
Winning now feels like a given in the league, with Everton the last team to take points off the Reds, way back on March 3.
Sunday saw Liverpool rack up a club-record 15th league win in succession, taking them clear of Arsenal‘s class of 2001/02, with Man City‘s Premier League record in their sights.
Pep Guardiola’s men prevailed 18 times on the bounce in 2017/18, but victories at Sheffield United, at home to Leicester and away to Man United would see Klopp’s team draw level.
Didn’t anybody really see this coming after the stalemate at Goodison Park?
Reds Rampant on the Road
Much of the pre-match talk surrounded the Reds’ apparent struggles away from home against the ‘big six’, having won just once in their last 12 trips to Chelsea, City, Arsenal, United and Tottenham.
Klopp’s men not only secured an invaluable three points, however, but broke a new record to suggest they shouldn’t be too concerned about results on their travels.
The win means Liverpool have now won seven league away games in a row for the first time in their history, dating back to the 2-1 triumph at Fulham in March.
They also haven’t lost away since the defeat to Man City in January—a total of 11 matches, which is the longest run since 1989.
Klopp Reaches 150
Remember those heady days when Klopp’s record as Liverpool manager was being compared to that of Brendan Rodgers?
Those critics of the German have gone awfully quiet in recent years.
Sunday’s outing was Klopp’s 150th league game in charge, with the victory meaning he has picked up 92 wins in that time (61.3%).
No Liverpool manager has done better, with Sir Kenny Dalglish (87), Gerard Houllier (81), Rafa Benitez (81), Bob Paisley (79), Bill Shankly (77), Roy Evans (72) trailing behind.
What an unbelievable job Klopp has done, and continues to do—incidentally, he has now become the first Reds boss to win three times at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League era.
Big-Game Bobby
It’s been nice to see Firmino earning such widespread acclaim of late, rather it only being Liverpool supporters hailing his brilliance.
The Brazilian was again the standout member of the Reds’ much-lauded front three on Sunday, scoring the all-important second goal.
Although Firmino isn’t as prolific as Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, his big-game pedigree speaks volumes about his importance to this side.
According to Andrew Beasley, the 27-year-old has the second-most non-penalty goals in matches between the ‘big six’ since the beginning of last season (six).
Most goals in the big six mini-league since the start of last season (pens excluded):
8 Aguero
6 Firmino
4 Lacazette, Mané, Martial, Moura, Sterling.— Andrew Beasley (@BassTunedToRed) September 22, 2019
Only Sergio Aguero (eight) has more and the next-highest is four, going to show that when the high-profile games arrive, Bobby invariably delivers.
Firmino’s header was also Liverpool’s 34th goal from set-piece situations in the Premier League since the start of 2018/19, meaning the Merseysiders have scored at least seven more than any other side.
Chelsea Blues Overcome
There was a time when playing Chelsea typically brought a miserable result for Liverpool.
There was, of course, the infamous loss at Anfield in 2013/14, but on top of that, there was an FA Cup final defeat, League Cup extra-time heartbreak and numerous forgettable occasions in the league.
Slowly but surely, however, the Reds have ended their Blues hoodoo, losing just one of their last 10 meetings.
Even that came shortly before the Champions League final in Kyiv last year, when Klopp clearly didn’t go full throttle at Stamford Bridge, as they went down 1-0.
Admittedly, five of those last 10 games have ended in draws, but the west Londoners are now finding it extremely tough to get the better of their rivals.
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