Watford shock Liverpool to end Reds’ unbeaten season, miraculous run

Liverpool lost for the first time in 13 months on Saturday, getting battered 3-0 by Watford in a result that tripped the Reds up short of history.

It finally happened for Liverpool. Not just an off-day, they’ve had a handful of those over the past 13 months, but an off-day bad enough to end in a loss.

On Saturday, 19th-place Watford battered the Premier League champions-elect en route to a 3-0 victory.

It was Liverpool’s first Premier League loss since Jan. 3, 2019, ending a run of 44 matches unbeaten in arguably the world’s toughest league. They came up five matches short of Arsenal’s Premier League record 49-match unbeaten run.

The result also tripped Liverpool up short of the Premier League record for consecutive wins. Jurgen Klopp’s Reds had tied the record midweek, winning their 18th consecutive top-flight match.

Watford’s Ismaila Sarr was the star of the day on Saturday. The 22-year-old Senegalese winger scored the first two goals and helped set up Troy Deeney for the third.

And there was nothing fluky about the result. Liverpool played one of their worst games under Klopp and Watford made them pay.

Klopp’s Liverpool have been a force of nature over the past 13 months and more, but throughout the Reds’ spectacular run one of their defining traits was the ability to turn it on and engineer results even on their off-days. On Saturday against Watford they finally were unable to flip the switch.

Let’s be clear. While this loss ends Liverpool’s chance at invincibility, it does nothing to diminish the quality of their season.

The 2003-04 Arsenal Invincibles finished with 90 points from 26 wins, 12 draws and of course no losses.  Liverpool have already won 26 times in 28 matches this season, drawing once and now losing once as well. They should easily pass the Invincibles’ points total – a feat they (and Man City) already accomplished last year. The Red could still be on pace to set the all-time points record, surpassing the standard set by Man City over the last two years.

Liverpool won’t be the new Invincibles, but that doesn’t change what they’ve accomplished over the past year, and it shouldn’t change the way they are remembered when they finish off possibly the best Premier League team of all time.