Liverpool's alarming statistic reveals biggest weakness which could cost them the Premier League

Liverpool’s alarming week which saw them lose ground in both the Europa League and Premier League is something that may have been coming.

Overall, Jurgen Klopp’s final season in charge looked like it was on track for a remarkable success in March having already won the EFL Cup in February and being in the running for three other competitions. However, after crashing out the FA Cup to Manchester United, they now look likely to head out of the Europa League after a humbling home defeat to Atalanta. Plus, their defeat against Crystal Palace on Sunday has seen them fall two points behind Manchester City.

And while a great many people believe Liverpool have been overachieving this season due to their issue with injuries, there has been one thing that has repeatably held them back. Liverpool have played 51 games in all competitions this season and have gone 1-0 down in 21 games. It happened again against Palace at the weekend which led to their eventual defeat and while there have been incredible late comebacks against the likes of Fulham and Brighton, for example, it seems time has caught up with them.

Delving further into this, their issue comes from first half performances. Or, more specifically, their opening 15 minutes. As it stands, only Sheffield United have scored fewer goals or have a worse goal difference than Liverpool in the first 15 minutes of games this season. They’ve scored twice and conceded seven whereas Arsenal and Man City boast high figures of +6 in comparison which could be the difference.

Granted, they are level on points with Arsenal and are within touching distance of City with six games left. Their remaining games are certainly incredibly tough given they may have to win all of their remaining games, they face: Fulham (A) Everton (A) West Ham (A) Tottenham (H) Aston Villa (A) and Wolves (H).

If they are eliminated from Europe this week, it does leave them with no distractions heading into the final run-in, whereas City are primed to progress in both the Champions League and FA Cup which could give Liverpool a boost. However, the only thing we know for sure is that their record early in league games could cost them when the Premier League winner is confirmed.