The staggering 66 game run that shows what Andoni Iraola must recreate against Man City
When you pause to digest the sheer numbers behind modern football’s greatest rivalries, there are statistical eye-openers and then there is a stat so completely absurd it almost defies belief.
Between May 13, 2018, and February 28, 2020, across a staggering 66 Premier League fixtures, Liverpool lost just ONE single match.
Over that ridiculous stretch, former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp’s red machine accumulated 179 points from a possible 198. To put that into proper context, it remains the most relentless, terrifyingly consistent period of domestic dominance ever produced by an English side.
Week after week, whether standard mid-table opposition at Anfield or hostile atmospheres on the road, the Reds simply refused to drop points.
And who was the only team on the planet capable of inflicting a defeat on Liverpool during that 66-game run? Manchester City.
The match-by-match breakdown: 66 games, 1 loss, 179 points
To grasp just how unstoppable Klopp's squad was, you have to look at the raw sequence of results across those two iconic seasons:
1. The 2017/18 season finale
May 13, 2018: Liverpool 4–0 Brighton
2. The unbeaten 20-game start to 2018/19
Aug 12, 2018: Liverpool 4–0 West Ham
Aug 20, 2018: Crystal Palace 0–2 Liverpool
Aug 25, 2018: Liverpool 1–0 Brighton
Sep 1, 2018: Leicester City 1–2 Liverpool
Sep 15, 2018: Tottenham Hotspur 1–2 Liverpool
Sep 22, 2018: Liverpool 3–0 Southampton
Sep 29, 2018: Chelsea 1–1 Liverpool (Draw)
Oct 7, 2018: Liverpool 0–0 Manchester City (Draw)
Oct 20, 2018: Huddersfield Town 0–1 Liverpool
Oct 27, 2018: Liverpool 4–1 Cardiff City
Nov 3, 2018: Arsenal 1–1 Liverpool (Draw)
Nov 11, 2018: Liverpool 2–0 Fulham
Nov 24, 2018: Watford 0–3 Liverpool
Dec 2, 2018: Liverpool 1–0 Everton
Dec 5, 2018: Burnley 1–3 Liverpool
Dec 8, 2018: Bournemouth 0–4 Liverpool
Dec 16, 2018: Liverpool 3–1 Manchester United
Dec 21, 2018: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0–2 Liverpool
Dec 26, 2018: Liverpool 4–0 Newcastle United
Dec 29, 2018: Liverpool 5–1 Arsenal
3. The only defeat in 66 games
Jan 3, 2019: Manchester City 2–1 Liverpool (The 11.2 millimeter goal-line clearance from John Stones was the match that decided the title)
4. The 17-game unbeaten title pursuit (2018/19 Run-In)
Jan 12, 2019: Brighton 0–1 Liverpool
Jan 19, 2019: Liverpool 4–3 Crystal Palace
Jan 30, 2019: Liverpool 1–1 Leicester City (Draw)
Feb 4, 2019: West Ham 1–1 Liverpool (Draw)
Feb 9, 2019: Liverpool 3–0 Bournemouth
Feb 24, 2019: Manchester United 0–0 Liverpool (Draw)
Feb 27, 2019: Liverpool 5–0 Watford
Mar 3, 2019: Everton 0–0 Liverpool (Draw)
Mar 10, 2019: Liverpool 4–2 Burnley
Mar 17, 2019: Fulham 1–2 Liverpool
Mar 31, 2019: Liverpool 2–1 Tottenham Hotspur
Apr 5, 2019: Southampton 1–3 Liverpool
Apr 14, 2019: Liverpool 2–0 Chelsea
Apr 21, 2019: Cardiff City 0–2 Liverpool
Apr 26, 2019: Liverpool 5–0 Huddersfield Town
May 4, 2019: Newcastle United 2–3 Liverpool
May 12, 2019: Liverpool 2–0 Wolverhampton Wanderers (Liverpool ended 2018/19 with 97 points losing the league title by a single point despite losing just once all season.)
5. The relentless 27-game start to 2019/20 (26 wins, 1 draw)
Aug 9, 2019: Liverpool 4–1 Norwich City
Aug 17, 2019: Southampton 1–2 Liverpool
Aug 24, 2019: Liverpool 3–1 Arsenal
Aug 31, 2019: Burnley 0–3 Liverpool
Sep 14, 2019: Liverpool 3–1 Newcastle United
Sep 22, 2019: Chelsea 1–2 Liverpool
Sep 28, 2019: Sheffield United 0–1 Liverpool
Oct 5, 2019: Liverpool 2–1 Leicester City
Oct 20, 2019: Manchester United 1–1 Liverpool (Draw)
Oct 27, 2019: Liverpool 2–1 Tottenham Hotspur
Nov 2, 2019: Aston Villa 1–2 Liverpool
Nov 10, 2019: Liverpool 3–1 Manchester City
Nov 23, 2019: Crystal Palace 1–2 Liverpool
Nov 30, 2019: Liverpool 2–1 Brighton
Dec 4, 2019: Liverpool 5–2 Everton
Dec 7, 2019: Bournemouth 0–3 Liverpool
Dec 14, 2019: Liverpool 2–0 Watford
Dec 26, 2019: Leicester City 0–4 Liverpool
Dec 29, 2019: Liverpool 1–0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Jan 2, 2020: Liverpool 2–0 Sheffield United
Jan 11, 2020: Tottenham Hotspur 0–1 Liverpool
Jan 19, 2020: Liverpool 2–0 Manchester United
Jan 23, 2020: Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–2 Liverpool
Jan 29, 2020: West Ham 0–2 Liverpool
Feb 1, 2020: Liverpool 4–0 Southampton
Feb 15, 2020: Norwich City 0–1 Liverpool
Feb 24, 2020: Liverpool 3–2 West Ham
(The run finally ended on February 29, 2020, with a 3-0 defeat at Watford, but by then the 30-year wait for the league title was as good as over.)
The shadow of City's financial guilty verdict
That single 2-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium in January 2019 defined by John Stones clearing the ball just 11.2 millimeters off the goal line was ultimately the razor-thin margin that decided the title race. It served as a stark reminder of the standards required when these two sides collide: absolute perfection isn't just aimed for, it is mandated.
However, those numbers take on a far darker, more infuriating context following the recent full revelation of Manchester City’s guilt regarding Premier League financial breaches.
For everyone across the red side of Merseyside, that jaw-dropping 66-game stat carries immense emotional weight. It underlines the staggering, unprecedented perfection Klopp had to demand from his players just to stay in the fight.
To amass 97 points in 2018/19 and 92 points in 2021/22 totals that would have easily won the Premier League in almost any other decade only to lose out by a single point on both occasions to a club operating under a cloud of illegal financial engineering cuts to the absolute core.
Sunday isn't just another fixture it is the first meeting between the two clubs since the guilty verdict was handed down. The sense of collective injustice that has lingered in the Kop for years now has official backing, making the atmosphere at Anfield ferocious.
City are walking straight into an Anfield cauldron, with a Kop ready to let Maresca and his players know exactly how English football feels.
When the whistle blows on Sunday, Iraola’s Reds won't just be playing a football match. They will be fighting for pride, history, and a decade's worth of score-settling on Merseyside.
