Losses and leaking goals - who can salvage some pride?
Such status feels a little diminished however in a season where both Liverpool and Chelsea have flattered to deceive. Consider Chelsea's current run of form - losing each of their last six Premier League games. Only once in their league history have they ever lost seven in a row, doing so in November/December 1952.
[Getty Images] Saturday's early kick-off at Anfield pits two of English football's behemoths against one another. Such status feels a little diminished however in a season where both Liverpool and Chelsea have flattered to deceive. Consider Chelsea's current run of form - losing each of their last six Premier League games.
Only once in their league history have they ever lost seven in a row, doing so in November/December 1952. On the other side of the pitch, Liverpool have lost 11 Premier League matches, their most since the 2014-15 campaign under Brendan Rodgers, when they lost 12. The Reds have also lost 18 in all competitions, last losing more in 2009-10 (19).
It makes for ugly reading on both sides. Defensively there are shared issues. Chelsea have conceded in each of their last 13 Premier League games, shipping three goals in four of their last five.
They last had a longer run without a league clean sheet between March and August 1991 (17). To capture how long it has been since the Blues have had such a consistent run of conceding, Bryan Adams topped the UK charts with '(Everything I Do) I Do It for You' as that 17-game run was ending. The Reds meanwhile have conceded two or more goals in 16 different Premier League matches this season – only in 2012-13 have they done so more often in a campaign (17 games).