It’s a run that lasted 68 games, three years and eight months.
But finally Liverpool’s incredible unbeaten run at Anfield has come to an end at the unlikely hands of Burnley, who themselves put to bed a lengthy hoodoo by winning their first game at the famous ground since 1974.
It’s the Reds’ best home run since the seventies, when they dominated English football and plundered silverware on the continent too, and the 68-match streak sees them rank inside the top five unbeaten home runs of the Premier League era.
But where do they rank in such exalted company?
#5 Manchester United
Manchester United dominated the Premier League in the mid-nineties, picking up titles in 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1997 in the Sir Alex Ferguson powered era.
Ironically, the very start of United’s unbeaten run at Old Trafford coincided with one of the shocks of the modern top-flight period, with Blackburn Rovers – aided by the goals of Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton – claiming the title in the 1994/95 season.
But that was a brief blip, as the Red Devils would go through the whole of the 1995/96 campaign unbeaten at home, and a decent portion of the start of the next as they won back-to-back championships thanks to the brilliance of Eric Cantona and contributions from the likes of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, David Beckham and Ryan Giggs.
#4 Manchester United
Sir Alex Ferguson’s men bettered themselves by one game a few years later down the line.
A two-year unbeaten run at Old Trafford in the Premier League yielded 36 games without defeat, and came in the midst of another trio of consecutive title victories.
The start of the streak saw United sweep to the 1998/99 championship, with Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke sharing 35 league goals between them and Beckham chipping in with eleven assists.
Then the Red Devils achieved another completely unbeaten season home soil in 1999/2000, and that laid the foundation for a huge 18-point title triumph with Yorke, Cole, Beckham and Giggs all at it once more.
This was the treble-winning United side that landed the Champions League as well, and their Old Trafford fortress remained that way until December 2000, when their unbeaten run came to an end at the hands of enemies Liverpool in a 0-1 defeat.
#3 Manchester City
December tends to be a month when we dream of what Santa Claus might bring us, and in Premier League terms that seems to be the start – and end – of record breaking unbeaten runs on home soil.
Following in the footsteps of their local rivals, Manchester City began an unbeaten streak at the Etihad Stadium in December 2010 that would run for two years – a passage of time that would incorporate their first title in four decades….the infamous ‘Sergio Agueroooooo’ finale in which City downed QPR on the final day of the season with an injury time goal from the Argentine.
That home dominance would run into the 2012/13 season too, although their brief reign as Premier League champions would end at the hands of their Mancunian nemesis – who also ended their Etihad defiance courtesy of Robin van Persie’s late winner.
#2 Liverpool
When you consider that Liverpool’s unbeaten run at Anfield lasted 31 games and two years more than City’s, you get a sense of the scale of their achievement.
It all began back in April 2017, and yet bizarrely the season that immediately followed yielded very little for the Reds – too many draws and defeats on the road saw them finish down in fourth.
But the benefit of being unbeatable at home yielded outstanding results in the following two seasons. In 2018/19, they finished second in the Premier League with 97 points – a haul that would have won them the title in many years prior. They also won the Champions League during that campaign.
And then a year later, the Reds were celebrating again. This time they won the Premier League, based upon their brilliance at Anfield, to end a lengthy hoodoo in the modern era. Their aura of complete authority on Merseyside had paid the ultimate dividend.
#1 Chelsea
It almost beggars belief.
Chelsea went 86 Premier League games unbeaten at Stamford Bridge in a four-and-a-half year period during Jose Mourinho’s trophy-laden first spell at the club.
The unbeatable streak saw the Blues lift the Premier League trophy on two occasions, finish runners-up twice and win an FA Cup and two League Cups.
And in a fact that may become a staple of pub quizzes in years to come, it was Liverpool who ended Chelsea’s 86-game unbeaten run thanks to a Xabi Alonso goal in October 2008.