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This past Thursday was the day that Liverpool fans have been waiting three decades for. With Manchester City failing to gain any points against Chelsea, the Reds have finally been declared Premier League champions for the first time. Ignoring the issue of the league’s suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s felt like only a matter of time before Liverpool were declared champions for a while now.
With seven matches remaining, Jurgen Klopp’s men sit on 86 points – 23 ahead of their nearest rivals, City – and have only lost one game during the campaign.
But does this make them the most dominant Premier League side of all time? It’s a question worth debating.
Most Premier League fans will have their own ideas as to who should be considered the most dominant champions. And naturally, it’s difficult to compare sides across 28 different campaigns. But by looking at various factors, it’s possible to make a case for the following seven teams.
Where do Liverpool’s 2019-20 side sit? Read ahead to find out.
As a disclaimer, of course, remember that this is a purely subjective list.
#7 Manchester United (1993-94)
Manchester United became the inaugural Premier League champions in 1992-93 but became even more dominant in the following campaign.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s side finished eight points ahead of their nearest rivals Blackburn Rovers, claiming 92 points from 42 games. They won 27, drew 11 and lost just four matches, scoring 80 goals and conceding just 38 along the way.
With a squad filled with a strong mix of experience and youth, the Red Devils were a tremendously well-rounded side. The mercurial Eric Cantona finished as top scorer with 18 goals, with Ryan Giggs and Mark Hughes also reaching double figures. And a solid defence that featured Peter Schmeichel, Gary Pallister and Steve Bruce was also key to their success.
The Red Devils capped off their excellent season by defeating Chelsea to win the FA Cup, and they narrowly missed out on a domestic treble when they lost to Aston Villa in the EFL Cup final.
However, despite their dominance, it’s worth remembering that back then, the Premier League was not the continental powerhouse that it is today. The fact that United were eliminated from the Champions League by Galatasaray – failing to even make the group stage – says a lot.
With 42 games it’s hard to deny that the season must’ve been tougher in terms of sheer volume. But the weaker sides in the league – Swindon, Oldham, Sheffield United, and Ipswich – rank amongst the worst in the competition’s history. And even the mid-table sides weren’t honestly that strong in comparison to today.
The 1993-94 United side certainly deserve a lot of recognition, but they also played in a very different era. The idea that they’d give today’s best Premier League teams a run for their money – as Paul Ince recently claimed – is simply unlikely based on how much the game has evolved since then.
#6 Manchester United (1998-99)
Manchester United’s treble-winning side of 1998-99 are often considered the greatest Premier League team of all time due to their incredible accomplishments. And sure, if you take into account the fact that they won the FA Cup and Champions League in the same season, it’s hard to dispute their greatness.
However, taking purely dominance in the Premier League into account, they don’t score quite so highly.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s side claimed a total of 79 points from 38 games, winning 22, drawing 13 and losing just three. They also had a tough time holding off their nearest rivals – defending champions Arsenal – as they won the title by just a single point.
The Red Devils certainly had no issue with scoring goals. A fantastic attacking unit consisting of Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer all reached double figures in league action. They scored 80 goals, averaging 2.1 per game. But they also conceded 37, at an average of just above 0.9 per game.
The team was built largely around Ferguson’s famed ‘Class of 1992’ academy products. The likes of Gary Neville, David Beckham and Paul Scholes – alongside a strong mix of veterans (Denis Irwin, Peter Schmeichel, Roy Keane) and big signings (Yorke, Cole, Jaap Stam). It was undoubtedly a great one.
However, it’s probably fair to suggest that their haul of points in terms of Premier League title-winning teams was relatively low. The same total would’ve put the Red Devils in 3rd place in 2016-17, for instance.
Was this down to their exploits in so many other competitions? Quite possibly, but it means that it’s not possible to rank them any higher in a list like this.
#5 Chelsea (2004-05)
Chelsea bought in Champions League-winning manager Jose Mourinho in the summer of 2004 for a simple reason. The idea was that the Portuguese would be the man to bring the Premier League title to Stamford Bridge.
Not only did Mourinho succeed, but he also created one of the most dominant sides in Premier League history in the process. The Blues took a ridiculous 95 points from 38 games, a record that would not be broken for over a decade.
They won 29 games, drew eight and lost just once – a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in October 2004. There was barely a point throughout the campaign that Chelsea didn’t look like champions-elect. In the end, they finished 12 points ahead of defending champions Arsenal.
So why are they not ranked any higher? Firstly, where most of the other dominant champions were built around goalscoring, Mourinho’s Chelsea built their success on a tough defence. They conceded just 15 goals all season – but also scored just 72, the least of any side on this list.
And there is, perhaps, also an argument to be made that the Premier League was relatively weak overall at the time. West Bromwich Albion survived with 34 points, for instance – a total that would’ve seen them relegated in almost any other season.
Mourinho deserves a massive amount of credit for his achievements at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea’s spine of Petr Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba remains as good as any in the competition’s history. And they also won the EFL Cup during the same campaign.
However, due to the achievements of some of the Premier League’s other dominant sides, it’s hard to rank them any higher here.
#4 Arsenal (2003-04)
Despite the massive achievements of some of the other teams on this list, only one side has gone through a whole Premier League campaign undefeated. That team was, of course, Arsenal’s 2003-04 team – a side who will forever be remembered as ‘The Invincibles’.
But does their unbeaten run mark them out as the greatest Premier League side of all time? Well, not quite.
With a total of 90 points from 38 games, the Gunners won the title at a canter – finishing 11 points ahead of their nearest rivals Chelsea. Along the way, though, they only won 26 games – a substantially lower total than some of the other teams on this list. But of course, they also managed 12 draws and avoided any losses.
Their record of 73 goals scored and 26 goals conceded is definitely strong and points to a highly well-rounded side. In fact, the only criticism that could be made of them in this regard would be that they relied too highly on Thierry Henry.
The Frenchman was responsible for 30 of their 73 goals, and while Robert Pires also chipped in with 14, none of their other squad members came close to double figures.
Arsene Wenger’s side failed to win another trophy during the campaign. But it would be hard to claim that they were able to focus purely on the Premier League, too – they reached the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and EFL Cup.
Essentially, the Gunners remain one of the greatest ever Premier League sides, and their unbeaten run still gives them a claim to be the very best. Overall though, I would argue that their achievements have been outdone since.
#3 Manchester United (2007-08)
It can be argued that Sir Alex Ferguson built three dominant sides during his time as boss of Manchester United.
The first one came in the mid-1990s and peaked when the Red Devils won the double in 1993-94. The second was, of course, the famed treble winners of 1998-99. The third though can be argued as the best of them all – and have a fair argument as the greatest Premier League side of all time.
That team peaked in the 2007-08 season when they won the Premier League title and also reclaimed the Champions League too.
Built around a truly phenomenal squad that could boast the talents of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Carlos Tevez and Paul Scholes, the Red Devils essentially had no weaknesses.
That trio of attackers – Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez – all scored double figures in the Premier League, with the Portuguese claiming the Golden Boot with 31.
Overall, they took 87 points from 38 games, winning 27, drawing six and losing just five of their matches. They scored 80 goals and conceded 22, and finished just two points ahead of second-placed Chelsea and four ahead of third-placed Arsenal.
With that in mind, you could make a fair argument that they weren’t nearly as dominant as some of the sides ranked below them on this list.
However, what needs to be noted is the Premier League’s incredible strength during this period.
United had to fend off the challenge of two of the other great Premier League sides. Mourinho’s Chelsea and an Arsenal side that still contained a number of the Invincibles.
What’s more, three of the league’s sides – United, Chelsea and Liverpool – made the semis of the Champions League. And the overall strength of the competition was high, with Everton finishing fifth with 65 points – a total that would’ve given them a top-four finish in other seasons.
Overall, this United side should be considered not only one of the Premier League’s best-ever teams, but one of Europe’s best-ever too.
#2 Manchester City (2017-18)
Manchester City’s 2017-18 Premier League winners were undoubtedly a special team. They broke numerous records en route to claiming the title, including the most points (100), most goals scored (106), most wins (32), and the biggest gap between them and their nearest rivals (19 points).
Pep Guardiola’s team were simply awesome throughout the entire campaign. Winners of the EFL Cup in the same season, they swept aside the majority of their opponents with some truly insane scores.
They scored more than four goals in a game on a total of 10 occasions, and when they did lose, it took a serious effort. Liverpool defeated them 4-3 while Manchester United beat them 3-2.
Their goalscoring ability was, of course, their biggest strength. While older historic sides relied primarily on one or two players to score the majority of their goals, that wasn’t the case here.
Sergio Aguero was their top scorer with 21, but Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sane all reached double figures, while David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne chipped in with nine and eight respectively.
So what keeps them off the top spot? In all honesty, it’d be easy to argue that they belong at #1. The one weakness they did have – if you can truly call it that – was in defence. They conceded 27 goals, more than four of the other sides on this list, and perhaps wouldn’t have achieved what they did if their firepower had been less.
Of course, though, their firepower was almost unmatched. And so it’s fair to say that Guardiola’s men deserve a spot near the very top of this list.
#1 Liverpool (2019-20)
The 2019-20 campaign may not be over yet, but if things continue to follow their current pattern, Liverpool should not only be remembered as Premier League champions. They should probably be looked upon as the most dominant side in Premier League history, too.
Jurgen Klopp’s men have already been crowned as title winners, as they currently sit on 86 points – a total of 26 ahead of their nearest rivals Manchester City – from 31 games. If they continue to take the same average total of points – 2.77 per game – they could well finish with a new record of 105 points.
But it’s not just their points total that looks impressive. Liverpool have won 28 of their 31 matches, drawing two and losing on just one occasion. Based on this form, they’re likely to win at least another four of their remaining seven, equalling the record for the most wins in a single season.
Unlike the great Manchester City side of 2017-18 though, Liverpool are not just about goalscoring. Sure, their strike force compares to any of the Premier League’s greatest; Mohamed Salah has scored 17, Sadio Mane 15 and Roberto Firmino eight.
But the Reds have also conceded just 21 goals, an average of 0.6 per game. Continue with the same average, and they should concede just 25 goals – giving them the third-meanest defence in this list behind only Mourinho’s Chelsea and the 2007-08 Manchester United team.
And their dominance is also even more impressive due to the strength in depth of the Premier League as a whole.
Liverpool have obviously had to overhaul Manchester City – a side not far removed from the side that dominated the league in 2017-18. But that’s not all.
The 2018-19 Champions League saw four English teams make the quarter-finals – with Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur contesting the final. Chelsea and Arsenal, meanwhile, faced off in the final of the Europa League.
And the form of other up-and-coming sides like Leicester City and Wolves has meant that Liverpool have had to fend off a bigger chasing pack than perhaps any other Premier League team. And of course, Klopp’s men have managed to do it in style.
Whether the Reds can use their brilliance in the 2019-20 campaign as a springboard for an era of dominance is a massive question mark right now.
However, it’s simply hard to dispute their status as the most dominant Premier League champions in history.
