When was the last time Liverpool lost two consecutive games at Anfield?

In the space of a fortnight, Jürgen Klopp’s last hurrah at Liverpool is on the brink of fizzing out altogether. Between the FA Cup quarter final against Manchester United little over a month ago, and this afternoon’s visit from Crystal Palace, Klopp’s team, who won the EFL Cup earlier this year, remained alive and kicking in three competitions. While no one expected the Reds to win all three, you’d expect them to still be in with a shot of at least one.

Being dumped out of the FA Cup at the Last 8 was an opportunity missed - so near, yet so far. That has since been compounded by other slack performances which have seen the wheels come off in the Europa League and Premier League.

Leaders since January

Out of the 13 matchdays since the 4-2 victory over Newcastle on New Year’s Day, Liverpool had topped the table on all but three. Today’s home defeat to Palace leaves the team in third, two points behind City, behind Arsenal on goal difference nervously waiting to see how the Gunners get on against Villa. The title race could still of course spring a few twists and turns between now and May, but that is no longer in Liverpool’s hands. The Europa League dream could also soon fade into the ether as Klopp’s men must now turn around last week’s 0-3 hammer blow defeat to Atalanta.

It’s not very often that Liverpool lose two games on the bounce at Anfield. In the Paisley era, visiting teams knew even before they were off the team bus that they would be lucky to even score let alone win. It’s true that City have actually conceded (one) more - but too many times Liverpool have ended up conceded early, right the start of games. This season. Klopp’s team have found themselves chasing the game 14 times in the Premier League - a more or less equal split between home and away. It’s an issue that has seeped in the other competitions too. Liverpool’s rearguard have kept just 13 clean sheets in 51 games across all competitions this season.

Added to that, and not helping Klopp’s team in any way is their finishing. Bringing up the rear at the bottom of the table, Sheffield United have created less than half as many shots at goal as Liverpool (366 compared to 894) but their conversion rate is better. Ten Premier League teams have been more clinical than Liverpool this season, including Brentford, Luton, Wolves as well as the other teams who are battling in the top six. Liverpool’s conversion rate is 8.1%, the same as Brighton’s; Eddie Howe’s ruthless Magpies top the ranking with 12.2%.

When was the last time Liverpool lost two successive home games?

In spite of recent results, it’s a long way off being Liverpool’s lowest ebb in the Premier League era. The team is practically guaranteed of finishing at least third and so will return to Champions League football next season.

Losing two straight games at Anfield is disappointing for Liverpool fans but the club has had much worse runs at home in years gone by. In the final week of January 2017, the team lost 2-3 to Swansea in the league and was booted out of both domestic cups by Southampton 0-1 (EFL Cup) and Wolves 1-2 (FA Cup).

Fast forward four years to 2021 when the team lost six games in a row at home, with defeats to Burnley (0-1), Brighton (0-1), Manchester City (1-4), Everton (0-2), Chelsea (0-1) and Fulham (0-1).