Liverpool ran away with their first top-flight title in 30 years, but how do they compare with the best Premier League teams?


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BBC Sport has drawn up a shortlist of 10 title-winning sides and we want to know where you think Jurgen Klopp’s 2019-20 team rank.

Are they better than the Arsenal “Invincibles”, Jose Mourinho’s first Chelsea team, Manchester United’s Treble winners or Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City record-breakers?

Vote for the team you think is the best at the bottom of this page.

Arsenal
1997-98

“At first, I thought: ‘What does this Frenchman know about football?'” said Arsenal captain Tony Adams, unimpressed at the appointment of manager Arsene Wenger from Japanese side Grampus Eight.

But the Frenchman silenced critics in his first full season in charge.

The Premier League looked lost in February when the Gunners were 12 points adrift of reigning champions Manchester United, but a brilliant late-season charge that included 10 straight victories saw the trophy head to Highbury.

Having pipped United to the title by a single point and with Wenger now the first foreign manager to win the English top-flight title, Arsenal went on to complete a domestic double that season, beating Newcastle in the FA Cup final.


The team was packed with leaders – including Adams, Steve Bould and David Seaman – and also sprinkled with the magic of Dutch duo Marc Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp. Midfielders Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit went on to win the World Cup with France that summer.

2003-04

The Invincibles – wins: 26, draws: 12, defeats: 0.

Wenger’s Arsenal became the first English side to go the full league season unbeaten since Preston in 1888-89, to claim their second title in three years.

They extended their remarkable run to a top-flight record 49 games, before being beaten 2-0 at Old Trafford by rivals Manchester United the following season.

Vieira and Bergkamp remained from the 1997-98 team, with German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann between the sticks, Sol Campbell marshalling the defence and the magnificent Thierry Henry leading up front.

Little did Arsenal supporters suspect then that 16 years later they would not have seen their team lift the Premier League trophy again.

Chelsea
2004-05

“I have top players and I’m sorry, we have a top manager. Please do not call me arrogant because what I say is true. I’m European champion, I’m not one out of the bottle. I think I’m a special one.”

Portuguese manager Mourinho certainly made an entrance to English football when appointed as Chelsea boss the summer after guiding the unfancied Porto to Champions League glory.

Bankrolled by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, Mourinho built a Blues machine that won the title from holders Arsenal by 12 points. They conceded a miserly 15 goals in 38 games and kept 25 clean sheets – both records that still stand.

Chelsea lost just one game all campaign – against Manchester City in October – and collected their first top-flight title for 50 years. They went on to defend their crown the following season.

Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira, who both followed Mourinho from Porto, formed part of the almost impenetrable defence alongside captain John Terry, while holding midfielder Claude Makelele allowed Frank Lampard the freedom to push forward and score 13 league goals that season.

2009-10

Another Chelsea manager, another title in his first season and the FA Cup too – but all in very different circumstances.

While Mourinho’s mantra was to nick a goal and keep it tight at the back (12 of their wins in 2004-05 were by a single goal), Italian boss Carlo Ancelotti’s philosophy was based on attacking football and blowing away opponents.

Chelsea ended the campaign with 103 goals, a record at the time, and a goal difference of +71 to finish top ahead of Manchester United – by just a single point.

Terry, Lampard, Drogba and goalkeeper Petr Cech featured heavily once again, with the likes of Michael Ballack, Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka providing the attacking talent.

Manchester United
1993-94

The shock signing of Eric Cantona for £1.2m from Leeds during the 1992-93 season was the catalyst for Manchester United’s first title triumph in 26 years.

Helped by the French mastermind, the Red Devils finished top in the inaugural Premier League season and made it back-to-back titles the following campaign.

Cantona scored 18 league goals and was named the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year, with United going on to claim their first domestic double by thrashing Chelsea 4-0 in the FA Cup final. Sir Alex Ferguson’s men could have made it a domestic treble but were beaten 3-1 by Aston Villa in the League Cup final.

That dressing room was not for the faint hearted, full of strong personalities including Roy Keane, Peter Schmeichel, Steve Bruce, Paul Ince and Cantona.

1998-99

“Champions of Europe, champions of England, winners of the FA Cup – everything their hearts desire.” Clive Tyldesley’s commentary during Manchester United’s last-gasp win over Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final summed up the season perfectly.

United became the first – and only – English team to win all three trophies in the same campaign, and their Premier League triumph was the first of three in a row.

Strikers Andrew Cole and Dwight Yorke combined in a formidable partnership to net 53 goals that season, while summer signing Jaap Stam was a rock in front of Schmeichel in the Danish keeper’s last season at Old Trafford.

But they had great strength in depth too, with Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer available off the bench, both scoring the all-important late goals in the win over Bayern. Jesper Blomqvist and Nicky Butt started that game in place of the suspended Keane and Paul Scholes.

2007-08

Legendary manager Ferguson’s longevity lay not only in his unmatched self-belief, but also in his ability to create a number of winning sides. The 2007-08 squad was his third generation of title winners.

Again, it was the start of three straight Premier League victories, and they also triumphed in the 2008 Champions League final against Chelsea in Moscow.

Superstar forward Cristiano Ronaldo scored 42 goals that season, 31 in the league, and won the first of his five Ballons d’Or – but he could not have achieved it without the support of hardworking forwards Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez.

The stylish Rio Ferdinand and rugged Nemanja Vidic complemented each other perfectly in central defence, while Michael Carrick kept the team ticking in the middle of the park alongside club stalwarts Scholes and Giggs.

Leicester City
2015-16

One of sport’s greatest fairytales?

Leicester had been staring at relegation for much of the previous season, but a run of seven victories in their last nine games saw them finish the campaign in 14th place, six points clear of the drop zone.

Despite galvanising the team for their revival, Nigel Pearson was sacked as manager and many scoffed at the appointment of Italian Claudio Ranieri.

But Leicester and Ranieri were the ones laughing in May as they secured the title in incredible fashion, 10 points clear of second-placed Arsenal.

Jamie Vardy netted 24 goals during the season to win the Premier League Player of the Year award, while Riyad Mahrez’s stunning form saw him pick up the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award.

Manchester City
2017-18

Manchester City provided perhaps the most iconic Premier League moment when Sergio Aguero netted an injury-time winner on the final day against QPR to give the club their first title in 44 years at the end of the 2011-12 campaign.

Since the turn of the decade, City have won four titles – more than any other side – and their win in 2017-18 was the most dominant performance in the history of the competition.

Guardiola’s men became the first team to reach 100 points and claimed numerous other records too, including:

Most wins: 32

Most consecutive wins: 18

Most away wins: 16

Most goals: 106, surpassing Ancelotti’s Chelsea

Best goal difference: +79, beating another of Ancelotti’s records

Biggest points margin to second place: 19

The undoubted star of the side was passmaster Kevin de Bruyne. Aguero led the line up front for much of the campaign, while Ederson brought a new dimension to goalkeeping with his range of passing.

Liverpool
2019-20

Thirty years, that is how long Liverpool had to wait to claim their 19th top-flight title.

Klopp delivered the Champions League the previous season and agonisingly came runners-up to Manchester City by a single point in the league.

But the Reds finally ended three decades of hurt by claiming the Premier League title for the first time. In doing so with seven games to spare, it was the earliest point in the season a team that achieved the feat.

Marshalled in defence by colossal centre-back Virgil van Dijk and reliable goalkeeper Alisson, the vaunted front three of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino were allowed to flourish at the other end of the pitch.

The fact they sealed the title so early may have cost them in their pursuit of a host of records they were on course to break.

They lost two and drew one of their final seven games, so fell short of breaking the Premier League points record (100, held by Manchester City) and, after finishing 18 points clear of second-placed City, cannot claim to have the biggest title-winning margin. Their final tally of 99 points is, though, the second-highest in Premier League history.

Which team is the best of the Premier League era?

This vote is now closed. Here are the final results.