After two record-breaking seasons, it was always likely that, in this compressed 2020-21 campaign, Liverpool would not be able to keep up the kind of ridiculous levels shown in each of the last two seasons.
Given the fixture schedule and the multitude of other issues offered up by the coronavirus pandemic and its offshoots, it always looked virtually impossible that a side who took 198 points over the past two seasons - that’s 2.6 points-per-game for those keeping count - would do likewise again.
However, losing both starting centre-backs, as well as the superstar right-back who has become so integral to the side’s success in an attacking sense, among a whole host of other niggling injury issues, was certainly not part of the plan.
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