1 day ago
7
All stats revealed & compared
©TM/IMAGO
What began last August as a bid for back-to-back Premier League glory has, by January, unravelled into one of the most lacklustre title defences the English top-flight has ever seen. Liverpool - champions just last season in Arne Slot's debut campaign - spent a whopping €483 million last summer, breaking the league transfer record twice for Florian Wirtz (€125m) and then Alexander Isak (€145m). They actually started the campaign in good form, at least results-wise if not performances. The Reds were top of the table, five points clear of second-placed Arsenal, after five games.
Nevertheless, 23 games into the season, Slot's team are now languishing in sixth place and are 14 points adrift of the league leaders after their latest 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday. Their early season promise has evaporated into inconsistency and defensive frailty. At the midway point of the campaign, the Reds’ haul stands well below the lofty totals expected of reigning champions.
It places them bound for a spot not just outside the title race but firmly among the worst Premier League title defences on record. Based on data compiled from Transfermarkt, Liverpool’s current points return after 23 fixtures ranks them in the dreaded company of some of the Premier League’s most notorious follow-ups to title success.
The best & worst ever reigning Premier League champions
Let's begin with the best title defences we have witnessed in Premier League history, and that takes us back to José Mourinho's Chelsea. After winning the title in the Portuguese bosses first season in charge in 2004/05, 23 games into the following campaign, the Blues had as many as 62 points. They would unsurprisingly go on to retain the title that term.
In second place are Manchester City, who picked up 57 points from the first 23 matches of the 2021/22 campaign, having won the league the previous season. Their rivals Manchester United also picked up 57 points in the 1993/94 season, having won the league in the inaugural 1992/93 campaign. The Red Devils actually feature a further six times in the top 10, taking up ever spot from fifth to 10th.
At the other end of the scale, as illustrated in the graphic above, the worst ever reigning Premier League champions at this stage were Leicester. After their heroics in 2015/16, the Foxes had just 21 points from the opening 23 games of the 2016/17 season, but they did manage to eventually beat the drop. Leeds (28 points) in 1992/93, Chelsea (28 points) in 2015/16, and Blackburn (35 points) in the 2025/26 season are the only champions to put up a weaker defence than Liverpool this season. The Reds' 36 points has them down their with the very poorest.
