Liverpool’s attempts to retain the title for the first time since 1984 are already doomed after a shaky start to the season.
Apart from Josep Guardiola’s Manchester City and their recent four-game winning streak, they have proven better at defending the Premier League than any champion since Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in 2008/09.
Opta’s supercomputer estimates Liverpool’s chances of winning the league at 7.1% after Arne Slott’s side lost five of their opening 11 league games, leaving them eight points behind leaders Arsenal.
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Premier League match highlights between Manchester City and Liverpool
Head coach Slott has struggled to integrate the £450m worth of new talent he brought to Anfield last summer, while the players who helped them win last season’s title have barely been able to match those heights so far this season and are likely struggling to find the motivation to return to action.
As a result, the champions have already conceded two or more goals in seven games this season, the second-worst record in the top flight, and appear unable to continue the long unbeaten run needed to get back into title contention.
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Roy Keane reacts to Liverpool’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City
In fact, the Reds are currently languishing in eighth place in the table, making it seem unlikely that they will even qualify for the Champions League with a top-four finish. It’s an unlikely scenario heading into the season, but perhaps not all that surprising considering recent history.
2013-14: Moyes falls into chaos as Old Trafford turns into a theater of screams
Man United finished seventh in the 2013-14 season, leading to manager David Moyes leaving Old Trafford.
Perhaps the most explainable collapse was when manager David Moyes took on what proved to be an impossible task to replace serial champion Alex Ferguson as manager of Manchester United.
The former Everton manager was sacked by the Red Devils in April 2014 and the 20-time champions ended up finishing seventh, their first ever finish outside the top four in Premier League history and their worst overall result since 1989.
In the end, the task proved too big for Moyes, despite being handpicked for the role by Fergie and signing a six-year contract at Old Trafford.
2015-16: Mourinho feels blues after ‘unprecedented capitulation’
In December 2015, Jose Mourinho waved goodbye to Chelsea as the champions just wandered near the drop zone.
Last season, Jose Mourinho’s ‘Little Horses’ had stormed into the title with 87 points after losing just three games all season, but things were very different in their title defense as the champions were on fire.
When Crystal Palace won 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in August 2015, there were warning signs that all was not well for the Blues. It was the second time the Portuguese lost a top-flight match at home in west London.
Mourinho was then suspended and fined £50,000 after he got into an argument with club doctor Eva Carneiro, who said he was “afraid” the referee would give his team a penalty during a 3-1 defeat at Southampton in October.
The losses continued, and when Chelsea lost 2-1 to eventual champions Leicester City in December, Mourinho saw the club lose nine of their first 16 league games, leaving them just one point out of the relegation zone.
The ‘Special One’, who only signed a new contract in August, was given his marching orders, with Alan Shearer saying: ‘I have never seen such surrender from a football club.
“I’ve never seen a player perform as well as he did last season and be this bad now. This is unprecedented.”
2016-17: Worst title defense in Foxes history
Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester side had their worst Premier League title defense in 2016-17.
Leicester surprised the football world by winning the Premier League in 2015-16, but perhaps to no one’s surprise, it was a one-off as Claudio Ranieri’s side were unable to reach those heights again the following season.
When the Foxes lost their opening game to relegation candidates Hull City, it was a first for the reigning Premier League champions, and there was much talk about it.
Leicester lost 2-1 to bottom club Sunderland in December, leaving them with just 13 points from 14 games, the worst return in Premier League history for the defending champions, and Ranieri was sacked by the Foxes just one point above the drop zone two months later.
Craig Shakespeare replaced the Italian and guided the club to 12th place, the lowest of the Premier League champions, but Leicester understandably struggled to repeat their miraculous results from 12 months earlier.
2017-18: Deja vu again for Chelsea
Antonio Conte was sacked by Chelsea after they failed to qualify for the Champions League in the 2017-18 season, despite winning the FA Cup.
There are similarities to two years ago, when Chelsea had a dominant title defense and a commanding championship victory, before the man behind their Premier League title was sacked the following season.
Antonio Conte’s side amassed 90 points, including a record-breaking 30 wins, en route to the title in 2016-17, and the Italian earned a new contract in the summer.
However, Conte’s frustration became clear when Chelsea failed to get him the contract he wanted, with the Blues manager insisting that “the club decides all the players who come here”. He was sacked after finishing 5th and missing out on Champions League qualification, with 23 points worse off than 12 months ago, including 10 defeats.
2020-21: Injuries and coronavirus dash Reds’ hopes
Virgil van Dijk’s season-ending ACL has hurt Liverpool’s title defense in 2020-21
There were a number of reasons for Liverpool’s lackluster title defense in 2020-21, a season in which the majority of matches were played behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The biggest culprit was the injury crisis in defense, with three of the Reds’ senior centre-backs, including the influential Virgil van Wijk, out for the season, and the champions suffered an unprecedented sixth straight league defeat at Anfield – where they had never lost in their previous 68 games.
Due to the lack of spectators at Anfield, the home defeat saw Liverpool fall sharply to eighth place in March 2021, but they finished the season well and finished in third place, 27 points behind champions Manchester City.
Man City, led by Pep, is not immune.
Josep Guardiola feels the strain after City’s bid to stay in the Premier League was ruined last season.
The only exception over the past decade has been, of course, Guardiola’s relentless Manchester City team. They won the league six times in seven years from 2018-2024, including a record-breaking four consecutive seasons (2021-24).
Interestingly, however, City failed to defend their title twice during this period (2019-20 and 2024-25), but their form also plummeted, with injuries to key players Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane causing Guardiola’s side to drop more points (19) by the end of December 2019 than in the previous two seasons in total.
Meanwhile, five years later, the same thing happened again, with the loss of Rodri to a season-ending knee injury, starting an incredible downward spiral that saw City win just one of eight league games, six of which were defeats, including their first win in 52 games at the Etihad in three years.
And amazingly, a combination of injuries to key players and mental fatigue meant City only lost 23 times in the six years they won the championship, compared to 18 in their two failed title defenses.
Leeds’ record collapse and Rovers’ ruin
Blackburn struggled after Kenny Dalglish (centre) was appointed director of football in the summer of 1995 and Ray Halford (right) was appointed manager.
In the Premier League opener, champions Leeds United ended the season in 17th place, just two points above the relegation zone, after Howard Wilkinson’s side failed to win away from home all season and had a disastrous title defense.
Meanwhile, Blackburn Rovers limped along the following season after their memorable 1994-95 title win saw Kenny Dalglish move upstairs as director of football and Ray Halford managed a side that finished seventh with 13 defeats.
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