Liverpool's Current Standing at Christmas Compared to Recent Good Seasons

Liverpool sit second in the Premier League table in the post-Christmas period, a position that most supporters would have taken had it been offered before the start of the campaign. Their 40-point haul represents one of their best festive totals of the Premier League era.

Jurgen Klopp's men are six places and 13 points better off than 12 months ago, and they're eight places and 15 points better than the 2014/15 season, Brendan Rodgers' last full season in charge.

The improvement speaks for itself. So how good is the start? Are Klopp's team on course for a title push?

Forty points after 18 games, extrapolated over the 38-game season would equal 84.44 points—let's round that down to 84 points.

That total points would only have been enough to win the league in two of the last 10 years (2015/16 and 2010/11). However, it would be more than enough to secure a top-four finish in each of those seasons.

Liverpool's two highest points totals in the Premier League era arrived in 2013/14—when Rodgers' side amassed 84 points and finished two behind Manchester City—and 2008/09—when Rafael Benitez's team finished the season on 86 points, four behind Manchester United.

That total under Benitez would typically be enough to win the title.

So how does Liverpool's position compare to those two campaigns in which the Reds finished second?

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Rodgers' side in 2013/14 sat top of the table at Christmas despite having one fewer point than Klopp's team did on Christmas Day this year (36)—although they did drop to fourth on Boxing Day following a 2-1 loss to Manchester City.

They'd won the same number of games (11), but Klopp's side has lost two fewer this year.

In truth, Liverpool only started to excel during the second half of that campaign, as Steven Gerrard adapted to his deep-lying playmaker role and the Reds, inspired by Luis Suarez's brilliance, went on an 11-game winning run.

It's a feat that Chelsea—this season's league leaders, who sit six points ahead of the Reds—are repeating. Antonio Conte's men have won their last 12 games, most recently dispatching Bournemouth on Boxing Day.

Liverpool are the only team to have won 11 games in a row and not gone on to win the title.

Comparing this season to 2013/14, what's interesting is that Liverpool have only played eight of their 18 games so far at Anfield, with 10 being away from home because of the redevelopment work of the Main Stand at the start of the campaign.

Despite this, Liverpool have scored the most home goals in the Premier League so far despite playing the fewest home games. Seasons are often defined by small margins, and having more games at Anfield, where Liverpool are unbeaten since January 2016, in the latter half of the season could prove pivotal.

Klopp's men face just five away games in their final 12 games of the season—at Man City, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Watford and West Ham United.

It's a favourable run of fixtures, with Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Southampton and Middlesbrough making up the final four home games.

The other advantage Klopp's side has compared to 2013/14 is the options available on the bench. Whereas Rodgers had to call upon Iago Aspas or Victor Moses (the Liverpool version, not the one so impressive for Chelsea), Klopp has more quality in reserve, with Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi the most used attacking subs.

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Benitez's side was top of the table at this stage in 2008, with 39 points. Like this season, they'd won 11 games—but had only lost once.

One key difference from the 2008/09 campaign to the others compared herein is the Reds' involvement in the Champions League, in which Benitez's men navigated their way to the quarter-finals while also losing just twice in the league all season.

With a spine of Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia, Xabi Alonso, Gerrard and Fernando Torres, there's a bafflement that this side never won the title. But like Rodgers in 2013/14, Benitez had few options from the bench, with David N'Gog and Nabil El Zhar his go-to attacking subs.

Benitez's first XI was packed with quality, experienced players—most of whom had won all but the title during their Liverpool careers. The team should have won the league and had all the tools to do so. Unfortunately for them, they ended the season second to a United team that claimed the title with 90 points.

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Compared to those two previous best campaigns of the last decade at Anfield, Liverpool are in a similar position pointswise but have two serious advantages in terms of squad depth and more home games to come in the second half of the season.

The main problem for Klopp's side this season is that Chelsea are on course for 96 points—enough to win the title in every Premier League season since its inception—and they also do not have European football to distract them in the second half of the campaign.

If Liverpool are to have any title hopes, the showdown with Conte's side at Anfield on January 31 is a must-win.

But history predicts that Liverpool are on course for another second-place finish.