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da pinup bet： The business end to the season is well and truly upon us, and Liverpool appear to be the ones feeling the heat more than most.
A lot of teams would give an arm and a leg to be sat atop the Premier League table around this time of the season, but for some sides the pressure of being the team that looks down on everyone else can be a bit too much, and dips in form will be inevitable if that is the case.
We’ve recently seen the Reds squander a seven-point lead, dropping points in four of their last six games to allow Manchester City to leapfrog them into first place by a single point.
In light of that, Football FanCast takes a look at a few other title collapses from years gone by…
Manchester United – 2011/12
The Red Devils threw away the chance to win the Premier League in circumstances that will haunt them for eternity. Back in the 2011/12 campaign, United sat eight points clear with just six games to go, before a shock defeat to Wigan saw them wobble.
A 4-2 lead with just ten minutes remaining at home to Everton ended in a 4-4 classic, which allowed Manchester City to go ahead of their bitter rivals on goal difference thanks to Vincent Kompany’s winner in the Manchester Derby – the rest, as we all know, is history.
Liverpool 2013/14
The Reds are no strangers to bottling it, as we all saw in the cruellest of fashion back in the 2013/14 season. Well, for Steven Gerrard anyway.
Liverpool’s academy-graduate-turned-captain-fantastic famously cried ‘We do not let this slip!’ after a nervy 3-2 win away to Norwich, before ironically slipping himself and allowing Demba Ba to score in what was a must-win game against Chelsea.
Does Newcastle’s infamous title collapse of 1996 mirror what is happening at Liverpool right now? The Magpie Channel discuss in the video below…
Brendan Rodgers’ men then got lost in the hope of eating up Manchester City’s superior goal difference whilst 3-0 up away to Crystal Palace, and were pegged back by three goals in 11 minutes – only a point returned back to Anfield from two must-win games, and the Citizens consequently won their second Premier League title.
Arsenal – 2007/08
It was a season containing a number of thumping Emmanuel Adebayor efforts amidst an easy-on-the-eye style of play from Arsene Wenger’s men, which helped them open up a five-point gap over their title rivals in February 2008.
However, a horrific leg break for key man Eduardo just three minutes into a game away to Birmingham set the tone for the rest of the season. Arsenal would go on to draw that game having led 2-1, before a run of just one win in eight games saw them finish third, a whole four points behind eventual champions Manchester United.
Newcastle – 1995/96
A season famous for Kevin Keegan’s post-match rant (you know the one), Newcastle’s implosion saw the impact of mind games hard at work as the Magpies suffered the ultimate collapse.
Keegan’s men led by a whole 17 points with 15 games of the season to play.
However, between the end of February and early April, Newcastle lost five of their eight Premier League fixtures to hand the initiative over to an Eric Cantona-inspired Manchester United, and Sir Alex Ferguson’s men ended up being the ones holding the trophy aloft in May as a result.