The ramblings of a football historian, whose interests lie in the origins of the game and the ups and downs of Spurs and Barnsley FC.
Friday 3 January 2020
UNBEATEN RUNS
PRESTON NORTH END 1888-9 THE INVINCIBLES
Played 27 Won 18 games, drew 4 in Football League (Goals for 74 against 15)
and 5 ties (no goals against) in the FA Cup including the final 3-0 v Wolves on March 30th at The Oval.
In the 1888-9 FA Cup The Old Carthusians were regarded as so good that they did not enter the cup until the first round proper being exempt from the first three qualifying rounds. They lost to eventual finalists Wolverhampton Wanderers and lost 4-3.
When Liverpool beat Sheffield United this weekend the club had completed a year being unbeaten in the Premier League.
They have played 37 games without defeat, earning 101 points, last losing to Manchester City on January 3rd 2019. They are the third Premier League team to manage a year without losing. The other two clubs are:
Arsenal who went 49 games and included the entire 2003-4 season and Chelsea unbeaten from October 2004 to November 2005.
Liverpool's domestic defeats v Wolves in the FA Cup this period have been last January and when their "young team" lost to Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup in December.
They have also lost on penalties in this season's Charity Shield and lost twice in Europe to Barcelona in the Champions' League semi-final first leg before the remarkable revival in the second leg and against Napoli in this year's group stage. BUT they did not win any domestic trophies in 2019.
Liverpool have won international tournaments; Champions League (the first English club to do that), the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.
Since their last league defeat, Liverpool have won 32 of 37 matches at 2.73 points.
When Man City won the Premier League in 2017-18, with a record 100 points, their average was 2.63.
Liverpool earned 97 points, the third highest in the PL and most achieved by a Runner-Up. The Reds won the last 9 fixtures of last season and 8 this season, which was interrupted when they drew with Man Utd 1-1 at Old Trafford in October, falling one short of City's record of 18 consecutive wins.
12 Teams have gone a year or more unbeaten in Europe's top five leagues:
AC Milan in Serie A May 1991-March 1993 involved 58 games in 672 days.
(to catch this, Liverpool will need to stay unbeaten until November 5th this year)
Arsenal went 49 games unbeaten in 539 days, 121 games in 2003-4 @ 2.47 points per game.
Huddersfield went 43 games for 93 pts @ 2.16 pts p.g. from Dec 2010 to Nov 2011. 2nd best in English history.
Nottingham Forest-42 games winning 84 pts unbeaten @ 2.0 pts p.g. in 1977-8.
Chelsea-40 games earning 106 pts @ 2.65 pts p.g. in 2004-5.
Leeds went 34 games with 76 pts @ 2.24 pts p.g. in 1968-9.
Other long runs: Reading 33 in 2005-6 and Bristol Rovers 32 in 1973-4
A British record is held by Celtic who went 62 domestic matches unbeaten including 56 Scottish Premier League games between Nov 1915 to April 1917 and then 69 from May 2016-Dec 2017.
The European Record is held by Steau Bucharest with 104 league wins and 119 domestic matches unbeaten from 1986-9 in THREE top flight seasons.
Lincoln Red Imps in Gibraltar went 1959 days (5 seasons +) in their island Premier Division from May 2009 to Sept 2014...... 88 matches unbeaten.
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