Just two-thirds of the way into the 2019/20 EPL season, Liverpool have managed to build a virtually unassailable 22-point lead atop the standings, having won 25 of their first 26 games and drawn the other. It’s been an incredible run and one which will deliver the Reds their first League title since 1990 – check here to see just how much of a certainty that is – and has them well on the way to eclipsing Arsenal’s 2003/04 record of 49 consecutive matches without being defeated. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most impressive undefeated runs – including Liverpool’s current streak – in Premier League history.
Liverpool (2019/20, 43 games)
The Reds current unbeaten streak stretches back even further than their incredible record this season suggests. Last year, of course, they finished the season with the third most points in league history and yet still finished second, and endured just a solitary defeat – 2-1 to the team that beat them for the title in Manchester City. That loss was 44 games ago. Since then they’ve won 38 league games and drawn five, and if it weren’t for that loss they would currently be on what would easily be a league record 65-game undefeated streak. As it is, they did lose that game, but they still appear likely to win the seven more games they need to surpass Arsenal as the team with the longest undefeated streak in EPL history.
Arsenal (2003/04, 49 games)
The Gunners 2003/04 season went down as one of the greatest in EPL history. At the height of Arsene Wenger’s powers and with Thierry Henry leading the charge on the field, they went through the entire season undefeated en route to an 11-point league victory. Surrounding that season with two wins to round out the prior season and nine games before a loss in the next, they set – with ease – the record for most consecutive league games without a loss – a record many thought wouldn’t be broken. Towards the end of the 2003/04 season they undoubtedly began settling for draws – earning just a solitary point in five of their last nine matches – but that does little to tarnish what was an extraordinary streak by a brilliant team.
Manchester City (2017/18, 30 games)
It seems fitting to include the team that broke Liverpool’s hearts last season on this list, particularly given the dominance they have enjoyed over the past two seasons. Having accumulated 198 points during that time, it’s little surprise there were some extended undefeated streaks, and the longest of them overlapped between the end of the 2016/17 season and the beginning of their 100-point 2017/18 season. They closed out the first half of 2017 with eight consecutive wins or draws to end that season, before demolishing everyone in their path over the first half of the next. In their first 22 games of that season, they won 20 times before, as luck would have it, Liverpool beat them in a thrilling 4-3 encounter. It ultimately didn’t matter as they went on to win the league regardless, but it did put to bed a streak which could easily have reached into the 40’s.
Nottingham Forest (1995, 25 games)
Perhaps not a name many of the younger generation would expect to find on this list, but Nottingham Forest managed to outperform all of the big guns in their first season after promotion in 1994. Stan Collymore was at his best and Forest proved extremely tough to beat – they ended their 1994/95 season without losing for 13 consecutive games (with 10 wins included amongst that) and began the next with 12 more wins or draws, putting together a thoroughly unlikely record of 25 consecutive games without a loss. Unlike most other teams in this league, it didn’t earn them any silverware and was surrounded on either side by quite a number of defeats, but they did manage a third-place finish in 1994/95, a finish higher than any freshly promoted side has achieved since.
Chelsea (2004/05, 40 games)
And back to the big guns. Chelsea’s 2004/05 season was the Blues at their finest; courtesy of the likes of Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Petr Cech they were virtually unbeatable, and won the league with 95 points and just a solitary loss to their name. That loss came to Manchester City in their ninth game of the season, and preceded 29 consecutive unbeaten games – 23 of which were wins – to end the season. The next year they did it all again, this time winning the league with 91 points, and with ten wins and a draw from their first 11 games they stretched their unbeaten run to a whopping 40 games.
