Liverpool look set to win the 2024-25 Premier League title, but could it go on to be one of the earliest title wins in history?
The 2024-25 Premier League title race is nearing an end, but how soon that ending will be depends on the form of both Liverpool and Arsenal over the final three months of the season.
Following their 2-0 win over Newcastle United and Arsenal’s failure to defeat Nottingham Forest on 26 February, Liverpool hold a 13-point lead over the London side, albeit having played a game more.
Can Arne Slot’s side go on to pick up one of the earliest Premier League title wins in history? Here, we look back at the champions to win the title with the most games left to play in the season.
7 Games LeftLiverpool in 2019-20
Liverpool won the 2019-20 Premier League season at a canter, sealing first place with seven games remaining after Chelsea defeated nearest rivals Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. No team have ever won an English top-flight league title with as many matches left to play as the Reds did that season (seven).
It was a strange campaign overall, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the season to an abrupt halt in March before returning in June without fans in stadiums. This didn’t stop the Reds from lifting the trophy, though.
It was Liverpool’s first top-flight league title since 1989-90, while Jürgen Klopp sealed a hat-trick of top-flight league titles, after previously winning the German Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
One disappointment that they may have had was finishing on 99 points, one off the Premier League record set by Man City in 2017-18 (100).
5 Games LeftManchester City in 2017-18, Manchester United in 2000-01
That 100-point Man City side won the 2017-18 Premier League title with five games left to play after West Bromwich Albion’s shock win over nearest rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford. They ended up securing the title by a huge 19 points over United; the biggest gap between first and second in a single Premier League season.
City’s 32 wins set a new English top-flight record for a single season, but they replicated this feat only a year later when winning the title again in 2018-19, albeit with two points fewer (98).
The 2017-18 season also saw City score 106 goals in the Premier League, the most by a side in a single campaign since the competition began in 1992. The previous top-flight team to net more in an English league season were Spurs in 1962-63 (111).
Man Utd won the Premier League title with five games left to play in 2000-01 when eventual runners-up Arsenal lost against Middlesbrough at home.
United won the league with only 80 points that season. Only three winners have collected fewer, but they were helped by Arsenal winning only 70 to finish in second place. Only Newcastle United in 1996-97 (68) have won fewer points as a second-placed team in a Premier League campaign.
This was also the earliest Premier League title win in terms of date, with United wrapping up a first-place finish on 14 April.
Before the Premier League
As well as these occasions in the Premier League, two other clubs have won the English top-flight league title with five games remaining.
Man Utd’s title win in 1907-08 came with five games left to play, as they eventually won the Division One title by nine points (in the era of two points for a win) ahead of both Aston Villa and Man City.
Everton’s 1984-85 league title saw them win Division One by 13 points ahead of both Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. They also sealed that championship with five games to play.
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