Liverpool win Premier League: Arne Slot’s side equal Man Utd’s record of 20 top-flight English titles | Football News

April 27, 2025 admin

Liverpool have been crowned Premier League champions, equalling Manchester United’s record of 20 top-flight titles.

The Reds clinched the title in style at a jubilant Anfield with a thumping 5-1 win over Tottenham.

Arne Slot’s side have led from the front in the Dutchman’s first season in England, losing just twice in 34 games to win the league and end Manchester City’s unprecedented four-year grip on the title.

Few backed Liverpool to compete for top spot after Jurgen Klopp’s departure a year ago, but Slot has defied all expectations and already matched his predecessor’s league-title haul.

The 46-year-old is the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League and the fifth man to do so in their debut campaign after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini and Antonio Conte.

Asked how he had made winning the title appear so easy, Slot told Sky Sports: “That’s not only my job, it’s the job of the players and the staff members standing over there and the work Jurgen (Klopp) and Pepijn (Lijnders) left behind over here.

“The culture of the team, the work rate, the quality was outstanding. We all knew that. We started off really well and it maybe helped a bit that (Manchester) City had a difficult spell, which they hadn’t had in five years.

“When the season started everyone would have been happy if we were in the top four for Champions League again but I don’t think that was fair to our players because they are much better than that and that’s what they have showed this season.”

Liverpool won their first title for five years at a canter too, with City dropping off this season, while Arsenal failed to keep up after being blighted by injuries and are set to be runners-up for the third year running.

The newly-crowned champions can still surpass City’s 91-point tally from last season, which would put them in esteemed company. Only 14 teams, including Liverpool on three occasions under Klopp, have hit 90 points in the Premier League era.

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports amid the celebrations: “It’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing.

“A lot of emotions before the game, during the whole week, but we got the job done and we (are) truly deserved champions of England.

“(Liverpool is) the most beautiful club in the world and I think we deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.”

Liverpool’s top scorer this season Mohamed Salah was asked to compare this title with the one under Klopp in 2020.

“This is way better, 100 per cent,” he told Sky Sports.

“Without Sadio (Mane), without Jurgen, without Bobby (Firmino) – without everybody, it feels more special. We have a different group now, different manager, so to be able to do it again is something special.”

Asked if Slot had made him a better player, Salah joked: “You can see the numbers – it seems so!

“He was very honest. He’s quite tough, his personality, but he made our lives easier because you knew immediately what he wanted you to do, which is what we did.”

‘One of the great coaching performances from Slot’

Sky Sports’ Gary Neville:

“Over a season, the coaching performance of Arne Slot is one of the best coaching performances we’ve seen [in the Premier League era].

“And I say that just in light of the fact of who he took over from – one of the greatest personalities and characters that we’ve seen in the Premier League, a Liverpool icon and legend.

“Going into that dressing room and having to establish control and authority, but knowing he probably could never do it the same way as Jurgen Klopp. No one can be the same personality and character as he was.

“But the way in which all season he’s coped with the conversations around the contracts, he’s dealt with those conversations. They’ve then signed two, I think the most important two of those players, Van Dijk and Salah, in the last couple of weeks.

“The way in which he’s kept calm and composed at points whereby maybe it’s not gone as well for them as he would have wanted, the way in which he’s got the maximum out of every single player – and I’m not talking about the very best players in the team, which he obviously has – is a fantastic testament to him.”

Redknapp praises ‘relentless’ Liverpool

Former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp hailed the current side as “relentless” as they celebrated in front of the Kop.

“I think if you were to describe this team it would be relentless,” Redknapp said on Sky Sports. “That’s what they’ve been all season.

“Even when they went 1-0 down they never panicked. They have been magnificent.

“This is certainly a day for the fans. During Covid when they couldn’t have that moment (following the title win in 2020), they’ve certainly got it now and they’re making the most of it.”

When will Liverpool get the trophy?

Liverpool will be presented with the Premier League trophy after their final home game of the season against Crystal Palace on Sunday May 25, the first time the club’s supporters will have actually seen their side lift the top-flight title in person since May 1990.

When were Liverpool last crowned Premier League champions?

Liverpool last won the league title back in the delayed 2019/20 Covid season when Klopp’s side amassed 99 points en route to becoming champions, ending a 30-year wait for a top-flight title in the process.

Liverpool equal Man Utd’s haul of 20 titles – but whose honours board is better?

Analysis from Sky Sports News’ Ron Walker:

Liverpool have drawn back level with Manchester United’s record 20 top-flight trophies after winning this season’s Premier League title, but who actually has the bigger honours board?

Sir Alex Ferguson once said his biggest challenge at Man Utd had been “knocking Liverpool off their perch” after their domination of the 1980s – and he made sure his side had taken their mantle by the time of his retirement, the season United lifted their 20th top-flight trophy.

That put them two ahead of the Reds in 2013, but after Klopp helped end the Premier League hoodoo around Anfield seven years later, Slot has now drawn Liverpool back level with their old rivals with a 20th league title of their own.

Both Liverpool and Man Utd have long boasted the largest trophy collections in English football. But what about their wider honours board – and who can claim to be the most successful? Cast your own vote here – and read on to see why both clubs have different opinions on who comes out on top.

At the moment, Man Utd have won 68 pieces of major silverware across their history – according to their own honours board. That puts them level with Liverpool now that the latter’s second Premier League trophy is confirmed.

A major discrepancy comes with the inclusion of the Community Shield. Things change very quickly if we take that competition out of the equation.

There are views in either camp as to whether it counts as a major trophy; on their physical honours board at Liverpool’s old training ground at Melwood, it was never included alongside their other tournament victories.

And if that is the case, then Liverpool are already five clear of Man Utd – with 52 trophies compared to their 47.

When did Liverpool become favourites to win the PL?

No Jurgen Klopp, no marquee summer signings and three out-of-contract stars dominating the headlines. At the start of the season, nobody saw this Liverpool title victory coming.

Back in August, before a ball was even kicked, third-favourites Liverpool had just a 5.1 per cent chance of winning the Premier League, according to the Opta supercomputer. Arsenal were second favourites with 12.2 per cent, while Manchester City were huge favourites at 82.2 per cent.

Here Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz analyses the key moments that gave Slot a top-flight title in his first season in charge.