Liverpool FC’s Biggest Christmas Leads | OneFootball

The snow is falling, the fire is burning and Liverpool are sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League. Ok, only one of those things is true for the majority of us, but the good news is that it’s the one that we’d all give a vital organ for. With Christmas fast approaching, the Reds are looking quite comfortable at the summit of the English top-flight.

That seems like good news, especially given how often the team that is top when Father Christmas comes calling then go on to win the title. We Reds have had our hearts broken too many times to put much stock in that, however. With that in mind then, how have we done when it comes to a Christmas lead?

Looking at Previous Christmases

Like the Ghost of Christmas Past, we can look back at previous seasons when Liverpool have been top on Christmas Day and then become the Ghost of Christmas Future as we look at what happened next.

Although, given these are all in the past it is the Ghost of Christmas Past looking both times. Shut up and stop being such a Scrooge.

1905-1906: 2 Point Lead, Won Title by 4 Points

On Christmas Day 1905, Liverpool sat at the top of the First Division with 26 points. It was Aston Villa in second, two points behind the Reds with both sides having played 19 games.

By the time the season had reached its conclusion, Liverpool had stretched their lead out to four points. It wasn’t Aston Villa that were second, however, but Preston North End, with the Midlands club having dropped off altogether.

1921-1922: 1 Point Lead, Won Title by 6 Points

People sat in front of their Turkey on Christmas Day top of the table with 27 points, keeping Burnley at bay by just the single point. It looked like it might be another close run thing.

Once again, though, it was the second placed side that struggled to keep up, with Liverpool finishing the season on 57 points, six points clear of Tottenham Hotspur. Burnley ended up coming third with 49 points.

1922-1923: 4 Point Lead, Won Title by 6 Points

Liverpool were top with 31 points to their name and having played 21 games, whilst Sunderland second with 27 but a game in hand. Those were the days of two points for a win, of course, so the Reds were actually reasonably comfortable at the time.

The end of the campaign saw the teams that were first and second on Christmas Day come in those two positions for the first time when Liverpool had been the leaders. The Reds ended up champions with 60 points, which put them two clear of the North-East side.

1949-1950: 3 Point Lead, Finished 3rd

Liverpool had a three point lead over fierce rivals Manchester United on Christmas Day 1949. With the country celebrating the end of the Second World War several years before, the Reds sat on 31 points after 22 games.

For the first time in the club’s history, Liverpool suffered disappointment on the final day after having been top when the Christmas pudding was being eaten. The only good news is that it was Man United who won it, with the Reds ending up one point shy of Arsenal and Blackpool, with the Gunners winning it thanks to a better Goal Average.

1965-1966: 2 Point Lead, Won Title by 6 Points

Liverpool were top of the table with 32 points after 22 games on Christmas Day 1965, with Bill Shankly looking to secure his first top-flight title since revolutionising things at Anfield. It was Burnley who were trying to chase them down, sitting in second with 30 points and a game-in-hand.

Just like more than 40 years earlier, the Clarets couldn’t sustain the pace. In the end it was Leeds United who finished second whilst Burnley repeated their trick from the 1921-1922 camapaign by coming in third. They were at least level on points with Leeds, with the two clubs getting 55 compared to Liverpool’s 61.

1968-1969: 3 Point Lead, Finished 2nd

Three years later and it was yet another Christmas at the top of the table for Liverpool. Top with 38 points after having played 25 games, Leeds United were second and trailed the Reds by three, having played two games fewer. If they won their games-in-hand then they would win the title.

By the time the final whistle blew on the last day of the campaign, Shankly’s men had slipped away and ended up coming second. Leeds did indeed overhaul their rivals, ending the season six points ahead of the Merseysiders.

1972-1973: 2 Point Lead, Won Title by 3 Points

In a rivalry that would become significant at the end of the following decade, Liverpool sat at the top of the tree with 34 points and a game-in-hand on Christmas Day 1972, whilst Arsenal were trying to hunt them down. The Gunners had played a game more and had two points fewer than the Reds.

At the end of the season, Bill Shankly had won his final title as Liverpool manager; although no one knew that at the time. Arsenal had kept pace with the Reds, but couldn’t close the gap and in the end finished up three points away from them in second.

1978-1979: 1 Point Lead, Won Title by 8 Points

Christmas Day in 1978 gave Bob Paisley his first chance to sit at the top of the First Division whilst he was pulling his crackers and wearing a paper hat. What made it all the sweeter was the fact that it was Everton who sat one point shy of the city rivals, having played the same number of games.

By the time the title was decided, the Blues had fallen away and ended up coming fourth. Liverpool, meanwhile, added yet another title to the pile and did so by coming eight points clear of Nottingham Forest in second. It would prove to be the start of a period of Christmas Day dominance for the Reds.

1979-1980: Led on Goal Difference, Won Title by 2 Points

Having been just a single point ahead of Everton a year earlier, Liverpool were top on Christmas Day 1979 with 30 points after 20 games. The problem was that they had the same number of points as Manchester United, albeit having played a game fewer than the Red Devils and boasting a superior goal difference.

The slender lead over United would grow as the season wore on, but not by much. When it was all over bar the shouting, Liverpool had won the league by two points from their fierce rivals. It was not only their second successive First Division success but also their second in a row after leading on at Christmas.

1980-1981: 1 Point Lead, Finished 5th

It looked like it was going to be business as usual for Liverpool when they made history by becoming the first team to have been at the top of the First Division on Christmas Day for three years running. They were top with 32 points, sitting one point ahead of Aston Villa in second.

It is fair to say that things didn’t go well for the Reds from there. They ended up coming fifth with 51 points, nine points behind eventual champions Aston Villa. It wasn’t all bad news though; as well as the League Cup, the Reds picked up another European Cup for the collection.

1982-1983: 5 Point Lead, Won Title by 9 Points

Liverpool players sat down for their Christmas Day dinner in 1982 knowing that they had their biggest lead at the top of the table yet. They were top with 40 points, whilst Manchester United were second and five points behind them, with both teams having played 19 games.

United ended up third come the end of the season, but Bob Paisley’s men picked up their final title of the manager’s reign. They did so with their biggest margin in a season when they had led at Christmas, finishing up nine points clear of second place Watford.

1983-1984: 1 Point Lead, Won Title by 3 Points

Another Christmas Day, another First Division with Liverpool at the top of the table. This time they had 37 points, with Manchester United sitting a point behind them after 18 games apiece. Could the Red Devils overhaul their Merseyside rivals this time?

No, is the joyful answer. Liverpool ended up with 80 points, three ahead of Southampton in second. United, for the record, ended up in fourth and six points off the top. Joe Fagan’s first season in charge of Liverpool saw him carry on from where Paisley had left off, winning a league, European Cup and League Cup treble.

1987-1988: 7 Point Lead, Won Title by 9 Points

Considered by many to be one of the finest Liverpool sides ever, Kenny Dalglish had taken to the manager’s job like a duck to water and repeated the trick of his Boot Room predecessors by having a lead on Christmas Day. His was seven points, with Arsenal leading the chasing pack.

The Reds went on to win the title, ending up nine points clear of Manchester United in second. Arsenal, meanwhile, couldn’t even get into the top five, such was the drop off for the Gunners. It wasn’t Dalglish’s last title, but it was his last one having led from the top as the star was put on the tree.

1990-1991: 6 Point Lead, Finished 2nd

Liverpool had not had such a lead as they had on Christmas Day 1990 and not gone on to win the title, so the feeling was that the defending champions would be able to go and do the same again. They were six points ahead of George Graham’s Arsenal with a game-in-hand, but there was a dark cloud on the horizon.

On the 22nd of February, Kenny Dalglish resigned as manager, understandably suffering from the stresses in the years post the Hillsborough Disaster. Ronnie Moran took over initially before Graeme Souness was given the role on a permanent basis. The result was that they came second, with Arsenal ending up seven points clear.

1996-1997: 3 Point Lead, Finished 4th

The Roy Evans era was supposed to see a return of the Boot Room ways that had not worked out for Graeme Souness, with many believing it had paid off as an idea when the Reds were top on Christmas Day 1996 with a three point lead over Arsenal; albeit having played a game more.

Ultimately, though, things would never quite work out for Evans in the way that many hoped, which is perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that they ended the 1996-1997 season in fourth, level on Points with both Arsenal and Newcastle United whilst Manchester United lifted the trophy.

2008-2009: 1 Point Lead, Finished 2nd

Nowadays, people will think of Rafa Benítez’s 2008-2009 campaign as one in which the Reds went toe-to-toe with Manchester United before coming up short. In reality, it was Chelsea who were in second behind the Reds on Christmas Day 2008, with Liverpool seven points behind the Red Devils having played two games more.

We all know what happened at the end of the season, of course. In spite of a joyous 4-1 win over United at Old Trafford, after which the Spaniard basically told the rest of the division how to beat them, Alex Ferguson’s men overhauled us and ended up winning the title by four points.

2013-2014: Led by Goal Difference, Finished 2nd

Sure, Liverpool have gone on to win the Premier League since, but there is an argument that the 2013-2014 season is one of the most exciting we’ve been through. Luis Suarez missed the start of the campaign after biting someone or being racist or something disgraceful, but the Reds still spent Christmas Day at the top of the table on goal difference ahead of Arsenal in second.

In spite of how ridiculously thrilling Brendan Rodgers’ team was to watch, Liverpool ended up missing out on the title to a Manchester City side that we now know would go on to have 130 charges of financial impropriety levelled against it by the Premier League. It was a close-run things, with Liverpool missing out by two points and an inferior goal difference.

2018-2019: Led by 4 Points, Finished 2nd

The if the 2013-2014 season was one of Liverpool’s most thrilling of the Premier League era then 2018-2019 might well go down as one of the weirdest. On the one hand, we won the Champions League in spectacular fashion when we won 4-0 against Barcelona at Anfield, but on the other we had a four point lead on Christmas Day and yet didn’t win the title.

It was a good job that we won the European Cup, because if Liverpool had got 97 points and not won anything that season then a few people would have had to go for a long walk to calm down. It was the highest points total ever for a runner-up in the Premier League, with City pipping us by a single point.

2019-2020: Led by 10 Points, Won Title by 18 Points

Previous Premier League campaigns in which Liverpool had come second resulted in the Reds falling away in the season that followed. Jürgen Klopp was determined not to let that happen, so his team put their foot on the gas and sat ten points clear of second place Leicester City on Christmas Day 2019, 11 away from City and with a game-in-hand on both.

Any fears that a repeat of Newcastle United’s trick of being so dominant but not winning the title were put to rest when Liverpool carried on as if they meant business after the Christmas wrapping had all been thrown away. We all know about the global health crisis that disrupted the season, but it was irrelevant to just how dominant the Reds were, ultimately winning the title by 18 points.

2020-2021: Led by 4 Points, Finished 3rd

When Liverpool were top of the Premier League table on Christmas Day 2020, Jürgen Klopp repeated a trick that no other side had managed since the Reds had done it at the end of the 1970s, start of the 1980s by being top at Christmas for three successive seasons. They were four points ahead of Leicester City and eight clear of Manchester City, who had a game-in-hand.

January started with a defeat and February into March saw Liverpool lose six out of seven games. It meant that the Reds couldn’t hold on and ultimately came third. What made it even more offensive is that it was the two Manchester clubs that finished in front of us, with City winning the title with seven more points than Liverpool could muster.