DEFEAT to Fulham left Liverpool with a six-game Anfield losing streak and the worst decline of any Premier League champion in history.
The Reds romped to the title last season, their first in 30 years, with a hugely impressive 99 points to their name.
Few expected Jurgen Klopp’s side to match that tally again yet even the most pessimistic fan would have dismissed the sort of collapse that was to follow.
Mario Lemina made hay on an uncharacteristic Mohamed Salah mistake at Anfield to fire 18th-placed Fulham to a huge 1-0 win.
It followed victories on Merseyside for Manchester City, Everton, Burnley, Chelsea and Brighton in recent weeks, as well as a defeat away to Leicester.
Klopp said after Sunday’s game: “We were extremely successful and now we have an extreme situation as well but we will fight through.”
Compared to this stage last season, where the Reds had actually just suffered their first loss of the league campaign away to Watford, the decline is starkly evident.
Liverpool sat on 79 points with just one draw and one defeat upsetting a perfect record.
Now, the club lies eighth with 43 points, an incredible 36 points worse off.
No Prem champion comes close to such a decline as even Leicester’s relegation-threatened defence of their fairytale win in 2016 did not stoop to this level.
Jose Mourinho was given the boot as Chelsea’s defence collapsed in 2015Credit: EPA
Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester flirted with relegation following their fairytale crowningCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Having dropped to 17th and sacked Claudio Ranieri, the Foxes were in the midst of a push back up the table under Craig Shakespeare at this stage of the 2016-17 campaign.
Their total of 30 points was only 27 off the 57 they had en route to lifting the title.
Chelsea are no strangers to a disastrous defence and Jose Mourinho was given the chop amid the Blues racking up 25 fewer points than after 28 games of their 2014-15 triumph.
David Moyes also failed to make it through the whole season as he followed Sir Alex Ferguson’s historic exit by missing out on the top-four in 2013-14.
Manchester United boasted just 48 points at this stage, some 23 behind the amount Fergie had secured a year earlier.
And another surprise champion, Kenny Dalglish’s Blackburn, followed Leicester’s lead and dropped off by 21 points after 28 games in 1995-96.
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It would be a masterpiece to find out how we change that overnight.
Jurgen Klopp
In fact, Dalglish had left Ewood Park immediately after securing their lone Prem crown as the team spiralled towards the second-tier.
Unusually in this comparison, Liverpool did get their defence off to a good start.
Going top with a late win over Tottenham on Matchday 13, Klopp appeared to be guiding his side towards another title tilt.
Yet they have not won at home since and won’t get the chance to do so until Aston Villa come to Anfield on April 10.
In contrast, the dismal defences by Leicester and Chelsea started badly and picked up following the manager’s sacking, by which time the prospect of another title had gone.
Moyes at United and Ray Harford at Blackburn both endured mixed starts but bumbled along in the top-half to finished seventh, although the Scot did not see out the season at Old Trafford.
Fulham became the sixth team in a row to win at Anfield on SundayCredit: Reuters
Jurgen Klopp is left to pick up the pieces of his terminal title defenceCredit: Ian Hodgson – Daily Mail
Questions are being raised of Klopp at Liverpool but it would be a surprise to see the club act.
Instead a fight for just a simple win and then a space in Europe is the club’s focus, with the final record of England’s worst champions still avoidable.
Chelsea and Leicester ultimately finished 37 points behind their previous year’s total, with Liverpool needing 19 points from their final ten games to avoid the same fate.
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Liverpool v Fulham as it happened
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
