Liverpool's variety of goal threats can fire them to Premier League title

For the seventh time in 2024, Liverpool scored three or more goals in a game.

The Reds eventually romped to a 4-1 win over Luton Town at Anfield on Wednesday night despite going in at the break 1-0 down.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have been fairly ruthless since the turn of the year, scoring 34 goals in 11 matches. What makes this even more remarkable is when you consider Mohamed Salah, the three-time Premier Golden Boot winner, has appeared in just two of those games while Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai have missed the majority of those matches while both Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez were absent in the victory over the Hatters.

In fact Liverpool’s Premier League record in 2024 is extraordinary, all things considered.

The Reds hit four goals against Newcastle United, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Luton and three in the win over Burnley. The only time they’ve failed to score at least three goals in a game was in the loss to Arsenal.

What makes all of this even more impressive is the fact that Liverpool are spreading the goals around the team.

As flagged by Michael Reid, five players are now into double figures this season for the 2019/20 Premier League champions. This is the earliest into a season as a top-flight club that the Reds have ever had five different players reach 10+ goals.

Salah has 19 across all competitions even though he’s missed over a month of football for the Reds. Diogo Jota has found the back of the net 14 times though he might not be able to add to that tally after picking up a knee injury against Brentford. Darwin is on 13, Cody Gakpo has gone a little under the radar with his 11, while Diaz’s effort against Luton was his tenth of the campaign.

Furthermore, Liverpool are the only team in Europe to have scored 100 goals this season.

It highlights just how potent Klopp’s men have been across all of the competitions. The German tactician deserves a lot of credit for this. He retooled his midfield in the summer and he’s assembled a new front five over the past two years. There were no guarantees it would click, yet here we are with the attackers amongst the goals and the Reds, once again, competing on all four fronts.

Ahead of the new campaign, we examined whether or not Liverpool had the goals within this squad to go for the title.

There are exceptions to this but, generally speaking, there is a link between goals scored and points amassed at the top end of the Premier League table.

For example, over the past seven seasons, the team in fourth has averaged 70 goals and they’ve finished with 71 points. The team finishing third has averaged 73 points with 69 goals.

The runners-up tend to average 85 goals for their 85 points while the eventual champions have averaged 92 goals for 94 points.

As you can see, around 70 goals sees you battle it out for a third or fourth-placed finish. Over 80 goals is usually enough for a runners-up spot but if you have eyes on claiming the title, 90 goals is the target (though the Reds managed it in 2019/20 with 85). The sample size is large enough to use these numbers confidently too.

For added context here, under Klopp, excluding the 2015/16 season when he was appointed in October, the Merseysiders had averaged 82 goals per season.

At the current rate Liverpool are scoring at in the Premier League, they’re on course to finish with 92 goals. Of course, injuries are mounting up now and the production rate may slow a little, but they’re currently on course for a title-winning goals haul. And it is going under the radar.

If you look at the table, the theory is tracking. Liverpool lead the way with 60 points having scored 62 goals. Manchester City and Arsenal have 58 goals for their 56 and 55 points respectively. It isn’t as simple as one goal = one point but, over the course of the season, it isn’t far off that at the top end of the Premier League.

The most impressive part about all of this is that Liverpool have made themselves more dangerous than ever before by spreading the goals.

So their title push doesn’t come to an end if one of their main attackers isn’t firing. They have many ways to win a game or make a difference. This is an area that Klopp doesn’t get nearly enough credit for.