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Liverpool to beat Arsenal at Anfield? That couldn’t happen Every small boy and maybe even girl knows that Liverpool have won 19 titles and Arsenal 13 and are two of the biggest teams ever in English football. Liverpool are now 8-13 to win the league and Arsenal 3-1 and are the top two in the betting so that could be the outcome. A Liverpool Arsenal one-two or vice versa. So, you would expect that with so many titles between them they would have had many dingdong battles between them for one and two but no, it is rare. In 32 winning seasons between them only 4 times has it been a tight battle for the top. Twice Arsenal have come out on top in 1988-89 and 2001/2002 and Liverpool twice in 1972/73 and 1990/91. Is the title race between these two? Will it happen again this year? It is very early to say. History says there is slightly better than a 10% chance of it happening and of course Liverpool may collapse like Tottenham last year and City could still stage a turnaround. For those of you with a betting mind City are a generous 9-1 and Chelsea are a staggering 18-1. Chelsea are absolutely level with us and have won far more trophies this century than us. Those four do look like the potential winners at this stage, though. The Chapman train was coming So, let’s look at the history. In 1901 Liverpool had their first title but Woolwich Arsenal were in the second division. The first time it was possible to fight for the top was in 1906 but the Wooly boys only finished 12th. Liverpool didn’t even notice them. They had two more in 1922 and 1923 but even though we changed our name, Arsenal were nowhere in 17th and 11th. Herbert Chapman made us great But the Chapman days were starting to come into view and in 1931 we had our first title. Liverpool were a distant 9th. We had arrived. Our dominance had started. They were the ones looking up at us in 1933 and 1934 in 14th and 18th. They did a bit better in 1935 in 7th. The Germans stopped us We were top again in 1938 and Liverpool didn’t trouble us in 11th. It meant that over three decades since their first win they had 4 titles whereas we had 5 in one decade. Arsenal the masters had arrived and most people believe that if it wasn’t for a funny-looking Austrian with a weird moustache we would have won many more. Wars? What are they good for, eh? Hitler started the war just to stop Arsenal Well, maybe for Liverpool because they won the first title after the war and Arsenal slid down to 13th place. Somehow Arsenal bounced back from that to win the next year and Liverpool fell right down to 11th. These were strange times as teams were putting themselves back together with so many of the former star players either dead, injured or old. The 50‘s were bleak Only Arsenal managed a win in the 50’s in 1953 and Liverpool were struggling in 17th. The next year Liverpool got relegated and didn’t get back up until 1962 under the legendary Bill Shankly. He put them straight and winning again with titles in 1964 and 1966. Poor Arsenal offered no resistance in 8th and 14th. Bill Shankly kickstarted Liverpool's great era In 1971 Arsenal managed the miracle double but Liverpool were always a formidable team under Shankly, however they only finished fourth. Liverpool were starting to rev up for their true domination of English football, though and in 1973 got the first title of that incredible period. That was to be Arsenal’s best season for many years after that as we came second, and that was the first time we had a battle for the top. The Liverpool rocket was fired and kept going into the stratosphere Liverpool went into turbo boost for the next 2 decades with wins in 1976, 1977. 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986 and 1988. Arsenal had 17th, 14th, 8th, 7th,4th, 5th, 10th, 6th and 6th. We were just looking on in bewilderment. We couldn’t lay a boot on them. But George Graham was scheming and planning on toppling the mighty Liverpool machine. And so we had our second one two but we came out on top in the battle of Anfield, 2-0 got us the title by the narrowest of margins in 1989 and the greatest day in English football’s televised history. Can it happen again? I will explore that later in the column. George Graham says bye bye Liverpool In 1990 Liverpool had their last win in the old first division and Arsenal came 4th. In 1991 we won again and Liverpool came second. George Graham had slain the Liverpool dragon for good this time. It took a very long time before they won again in 2020 under Jurgen Klopp with Arsenal languishing in 8th. We need to recreate the special match But the mighty Mr Wenger had come along to give us 3 wins in 1998, 2002, and 2004. Liverpool were 3rd, 2nd and 4th. That second place was the last such time when we were close at the top. In that period it was Man Utd who were our real opponents. Jurgen Klopp got Liverpool their only Premier League title I said earlier that our greatest match could be recreated. We are due to play Liverpool at Anfield on the 10th of May with two more matches to go. We should be playing Southampton and Liverpool playing Palace on the final day, and neither match looks very promising from a TV perspective. If it looks in early May that it could be a decider I say let’s switch. Liverpool vs Arsenal at Anfield to decide the league title. The whole world would watch it and if we needed to win by 2 goals again? Who would be our Alan Smith and Michael Thomas? Havertz and Declan Rice? Bring it on! The record Key - League position and points 1900-01 Liverpool 1 45 1905-06 Liverpool 1 51 Woolwich Arsenal 12 37 1921-22 Liverpool 1 57 Arsenal 17 37 1922-23 Liverpool 1 60 Arsenal 11 42 1930/31 Arsenal 1 66 Liverpool 9 42 1932/33 Arsenal 1 58 Liverpool 14 39 1933/34 Arsenal 1 59 Liverpool 18 38 1934/35 Arsenal 1 58 Liverpool 7 45 1937/38 Arsenal 1 52 Liverpool 11 41 1946-47 Liverpool 1 57 Arsenal 13 41 1947/48 Arsenal 1 59 Liverpool 11 42 1952/53 Arsenal 1 54 Liverpool 17 36 1963-64 Liverpool 1 57 Arsenal 8 45 1965-66 Liverpool 1 61 Arsenal 14 37 1970/71 Arsenal 1 65 Liverpool 5 51 1972-73 Liverpool 1 60 Arsenal 2 57 1975-76 Liverpool 1 60 Arsenal 17 36 1976-77 Liverpool 1 61 Arsenal 14 37 1978-79 Liverpool 1 57 Arsenal 8 43 1979-80 Liverpool 1 68 Arsenal 7 48 1981-82 Liverpool 1 60 Arsenal 4 52 1982-83 Liverpool 1 87 Arsenal 5 71 1983-84 Liverpool 1 82 Arsenal 10 58 1985-86 Liverpool 1 88 Arsenal 6 69 1987-88 Liverpool 1 90 Arsenal 6 66 1988-89 Arsenal 1 76 Liverpool 2 76 1989-90 Liverpool 1 79 Arsenal 4 62 1990/91 Arsenal 1 83 Liverpool 2 76 1997/98 Arsenal 1 78 Liverpool 3 65 2001/02 Arsenal 1 87 Liverpool 2 80 2003/04 Arsenal 1 90 Liverpool 4 60 2019-20 Liverpool 1 99 Arsenal 8 56