How Liverpool's 2025/26 Collapse Ranks Among Premier League's Most Spectacular Title Defence Failures

Liverpool's imperious march to the 2025/26 Premier League title seemed to herald a new era of dominance. Yet what followed has been nothing short of calamitous. The Reds, who swept to glory with barely a challenger in sight, made a flurry of summer signings and won their opening five games. Since then, the wheels have come spectacularly off. Eighteen points adrift of the leaders and clinging to Champions League qualification hopes, they've left observers wondering where their collapse ranks among the Premier League's most catastrophic title defences.

The question naturally leads to a broader investigation: what are the worst title defences in Premier League history? The answer, it turns out, involves some genuinely dreadful campaigns—though admittedly, we've had to get a touch creative with the criteria to scrape together a full ten.

10. Arsenal 2004/05

The Invincibles simply couldn't maintain their aura. Arsenal began brightly, winning eight of their first nine matches and extending their unbeaten run to 49 games across three seasons. Then came a controversial defeat at Old Trafford that knocked them sideways. They won just one of their next five—a barmy 5-4 North London Derby victory—before stabilising. Yet the damage was done. They trailed Chelsea by 12 points come season's end, and the Premier League's power structure shifted forever. Arsenal haven't lifted the title since.

9. Manchester United 2001/02

United's decline that year was genuinely shocking. They finished only three points worse than their title-winning 2000/01 campaign, yet tumbled to third—an unthinkable indignity for Ferguson's side. Worse still, they won nothing. Arsenal knocked them out of the League Cup early, they didn't survive the FA Cup's fourth round, and a Champions League semi-final ended in heartbreak against Bayer Leverkusen via away goals. An autumn collapse—five defeats in seven games, including three straight against Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham—proved fatal. Arsenal eventually sealed the title with a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford.

8. Chelsea 2017/18

Antonio Conte's back-three revolution of 2016/17 had been stunning: 93 points, seven clear of Spurs. The following season, opponents worked them out and Conte's players seemed to lose interest entirely. The Italian spent much of the campaign frustrated by transfer market dealings, an unusual state for a man of his temperament. The FA Cup provided some consolation, but Chelsea's sequence of first, tenth, first, fifth between 2014/15 and 2017/18 demands proper examination.

7. Blackburn 1995/96

Jack Walker's millions had bankrolled Kenny Dalglish to the 1995 title by a single point over Manchester United, despite losing three of their final five matches. Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton did the heavy lifting. Yet Dalglish departed and Rovers imploded spectacularly. They finished seventh, won just one Champions League match, lost the Charity Shield to Everton and exited the FA Cup in the third round. The Moscow Champions League tie was memorable only for David Batty and Graeme Le Saux's bust-up.

6. Liverpool 2020/21

Klopp's side ended their 30-year drought in extraordinary fashion, amassing a club-record 99 points and sealing the championship with seven games remaining. The pandemic-affected season drew conspiracy theorists out of the woodwork, though Liverpool had it wrapped up long before lockdown. The following campaign proved a different beast entirely. Six consecutive home defeats—their worst ever run—saw them limp towards Champions League qualification with just eight wins in their final ten matches. Injuries took a toll, and the post-drought comedown was evident, but 70 points should have been achievable.

5. Manchester City 2024/25

Judging City harshly feels unfair, yet Guardiola and Ferguson alone escape the traditional mitigation afforded to title defenders. When you make the genuinely difficult task of defending a Premier League crown look routine, the contrast becomes all the more jarring when it unravels. City's aura of invincibility—forged by four consecutive English league titles—seemed unshakeable. Yet from 30 October to 29 December 2024, they won just one game across 13 outings in three competitions. A 2-1 Carabao defeat at Spurs started the rot, followed by Bournemouth, a Champions League humiliation at Sporting, another 2-1 loss at Brighton, and a 4-0 thrashing by Spurs. Feyenoord's 3-2 comeback from 3-0 down at the Etihad was perhaps the nadir. In the league specifically, they plummeted from top and two points clear to seventh, 12 behind, recording just one win, two draws and six defeats across nine games. Limping home third because everyone else underperformed doesn't excuse the collapse.

4. Manchester United 2013/14

Ferguson's final season, powered by Robin van Persie's 26 Premier League goals, saw United romp to their 20th title by 11 points. Then the Scot departed, David Moyes arrived, and a plane flew over Old Trafford bearing an unwelcome message. By the time Moyes was sacked in April with four games remaining, United had guaranteed their lowest points tally in the Premier League era. Sixth home defeats, exits to Swansea in the FA Cup and Sunderland in the League Cup, and a 25-point drop saw them finish seventh and miss Champions League football for the first time since 1995. Moyes' failure to land Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos or Cesc Fabregas, combined with an embarrassing deadline-day Marouane Fellaini overpayment, compounded matters. The new manager even complained about facing Chelsea, Liverpool and City in his opening five matches, as though the fixture computer had rigged things personally against him.

3. Chelsea 2015/16

Mourinho's third title in his second spell at Stamford Bridge—built on Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas' immediate impact—gave way to his infamous Third-Season Destroy. He opened the campaign by attacking Chelsea's medical staff, a tone-setting disaster. By mid-December, when he was sacked, Chelsea had lost nine of 16 league matches and sat a point above the drop zone. Guus Hiddink steadied the ship, and a top-half finish after their worst start in 37 years became respectable. Yet a 37-point swing from one season to the next is genuinely dreadful. They then won the league again the following year, because the Premier League was entering a period of glorious chaos before Guardiola's arrival.

2. Leicester City 2016/17

Claudio Ranieri's 5000-1 champions couldn't handle their hangover. N'Golo Kante's departure hardly helped as they stumbled through the Champions League quarter-finals and the league simultaneously. Ranieri paid with his job after just five wins in 25 matches, with his champions hovering a point above the drop zone. Craig Shakespeare's arrival sparked improvement—seven wins in thirteen—but they still finished 12th.

1. Leeds United 1992/93

Technically not a Premier League title defence, but a title defence during the Premier League era, which means we're loopholing our way to the finish line with fingers in our ears. Howard Wilkinson's side, inspired by Eric Cantona's February arrival, had shocked Manchester United to the final Division One crown. Their Premier League collapse was even more dramatic than Leicester's. They failed to win away from Elland Road all season, finished 17th in a 22-team division just two points above relegated Crystal Palace, and 31 points worse off than their title-winning campaign. The European Cup offered no respite, with Rangers eliminating them in the second round.