Eight of the biggest Premier League title collapses: Liverpool lead the way this season but history shows Man City shouldn’t be written off just yet
Liverpool remain unbeaten in the Premier League this season after 12 games.
A 3-1 win over title rivals Manchester City prior to the international break saw the Reds move eight points clear at the top of the table.
Liverpool lead reigning champions City by nine points as Pep Guardiola’s men dropped to fourth following wins for Leicester and Chelsea.
The Anfield outfit have responded well to domestic heartache last season and look on course to end a 30-year wait for a league title come May.
But City clawed back a ten-point deficit last season and there have been plenty of teams over the years who have been unable to maintain their form in the second of the season.
talkSPORT.com takes a look at some who, like Liverpool, looked destined for glory but let their foot off the gas and ended up second or worse.
The question is can the Reds avoid getting their names on this list (again)?
Norwich City 1992/93 – 8 points
After finishing 18th in Division One in the 1991/92 campaign, just three points above the relegation zone, no one would have predicted Norwich’s title charge in the inaugural Premier League season.
However, Mike Walker’s side shocked everyone with an outstanding start to the season, winning seven of their opening nine league games.
A 2-1 win over Wimbledon in December saw Norwich lead the chasing pack after 18 matches.
However, they failed to replicate their form in the second half of the season and suffered two damaging defeats to Manchester United.
Newcastle United 1995/96 – 12 points
Who could forget this, eh? A season defined by quite possibly the most famous post-match interview of all time.
Newcastle were 12 points clear at the top with 15 games remaining, so the addition of Faustino Asprilla in the winter transfer window was only expected to maintain that surge.
Sadly for the Magpies it wasn’t to be, as they suffered a monumental collapse – losing five of their eight Premier League games between February 21 and April 8.
That coincided with a incredible meltdown from Kevin Keegan, where he called out Sir Alex Ferguson and roared into his headset ‘I’d love it if we beat them’.
Keegan and co were unable to do that as they failed to arrest their decline.
The Magpies lost 1-0 defeat to a United side inspired by the return of Eric Cantona, while they also fell on the wrong end of a seven-goal thriller at Liverpool – one of the best games of the modern era.
United would go on to win a remarkable 13 of their last 15 league games while Newcastle stumbled, and it was Ferguson who once again took home another title.
This was the season which Fergie truly cemented his status as the master of mind games – and deservedly so.
Manchester United 1997/98 – 11 points
Serial winners in the 2000s, Manchester United uncharacteristically let a Premier League title slip out of their grasp in this particular campaign.
With just nine games left to play United had an 11-point lead over arch nemesis Arsenal.
While the Gunners had three games in hand, the Red Devils were still very much in the front seat with their destiny in their own hands.
Arsene Wenger got the better of Fergie in a 1-0 win at Old Trafford in March 1998 and from that point onwards the Gunners didn’t look back.
United, notoriously known for hunting down their prey, had on this occasion been hunted down themselves.
Arsenal 2002/2003 – 8 points
The Scot got his revenge on Wenger a couple of years later, with the Gunners blowing an eight-point advantage in March.
The north London side lost to Leeds United with just two games remaining – a result which sent the title to Manchester and saved the Yorkshire giants from relegation.
Remarkably, United won 15 of their last 18 games and eventually finished five points ahead of the Gunners.
Arsenal fans didn’t stay disappointed for too long, though, as the ‘Invincibles’ turned up the season after and as they say the rest was history!
Arsenal 2007/2008 – 5 points
There was an eerie feeling to this campaign before it even started, following the sale of the club’s star player, Thierry Henry, to Barcelona.
However, Arsenal didn’t appear to be suffering any kind of hangover as they approached the new year with a five-point lead at the top of the table, having lost just once all season.
Their season essentially did collapse though, with a trip to Birmingham in February the catalyst for this.
That game is sadly remembered for the wrong reasons with Eduardo Silva suffering a horrendous leg break.
It also ended with skipper William Gallas shamefully having a meltdown in the middle of the pitch following the 2-2 draw.
The north London club failed to recover from those respective blows, with a run of one win in eight games between February and April paving the way for Chelsea and United to both overtake them as the Gunners eventually finished third.
Manchester United 2011/12 – 8 points
United looked set to win a fifth Premier League title in six seasons after a comfortable 2-0 win over QPR had taken them eight points clear of Man City with eight games to go.
City’s failure to win against Stoke, Sunderland and Arsenal had opened that gap at the summit of the table.
However, United suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to relegation-threatened Wigan, which started City’s comeback.
A 4-4 draw against Everton at Old Trafford was followed up by a damaging 1-0 loss to City at the Etihad, which swung the title race towards the blue side of Manchester.
With United beating Sunderland on the final day of the season, City needed to win at home to QPR, and did so thanks to two stoppage time goals from Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero.
Liverpool 2013/14 – 3 points
While this wasn’t one of the biggest leads let slip of all time, it has to get an inclusion owing to the fact the Reds bottled it with the least time available.
Brendan Rodgers’ side were just a few games from winning their first league title in 24 years.
They had a three-point cushion over closest rivals Man City with three games to go and even the most pessimistic Reds fan was sensing glory.
That was until Steven Gerrard’s infamous slip resulted in a 2-0 defeat at home to Chelsea, and that was swiftly followed by Luis Suarez’s tears at Crystal Palace (yes, that’s right).
The Uruguayan’s reaction was understandable with the Reds throwing away a three-goal lead in the final 11 minutes at Crystal Palace to effectively surrender the title to City.
That isn’t a time any Liverpool fan wants to revisit anytime soon, that’s for sure.
Liverpool 2018/19 – 9 points
It looked like it would finally be Liverpool’s year when they beat Arsenal 5-1 to go nine points clear of second-placed Tottenham on December 29.
At the time, Man City had not played their 20th game of the season, but won it against Southampton a day later to close the gap to seven points.
Liverpool lost a crucial game to City in January, before being held to goalless draws with Manchester United and Everton.
Pep Guardiola’s side won an impressive 14 successive games to secure back-to-back Premier League titles, finishing just one point ahead of the Reds.
Liverpool amassed 97 points in the 2018/19 season as Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane won the Golden Boot with 22 goals, while Alisson won the Golden Glove with 21 clean sheets.
It will go down as one of the Premier League’s greatest ever title races.
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