Liverpool 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
In the end, it wasn’t quite enough.
Liverpool’s wait for the Premier League title goes on and, despite producing so many Premier League highlights over the past nine months, it will hurt all in the red half of Merseyside.
Yet they can be so proud of their achievements (as can Wolves).
No side in top-flight history has won as many as 30 games and 97 points in a season and not won the title.
Additionally, no side had ever previously lost just one game in a top-flight season and not won the title.
Despite holding a seven-point lead at the summit going into the new year, it would be harsh to say Jurgen Klopp’s men have themselves to blame after being pegged back.
They have had an exceptional league campaign, finishing with nine wins in a row and the longest current unbeaten run in the top flight (won 13, drawn four).
Just champions Manchester City have been even better, edging ahead by the tightest of margins in an incredible title race.
Highlights of the game
Arguably the moment of this encounter was actually triggered many miles away when events on the south coast threatened to stun the Sbobet Premier League betting odds and cause the party of all parties inside Anfield.
That was when news emerged that Brighton had taken a shock lead against City.
By this stage, man of the moment for Liverpool, Divock Origi, had already tested Rui Patricio before Trent Alexander-Arnold’s low cross was deflected perfectly into the path of Sadio Mane who guided home the opener.
Yet the noise which greeted the opener was nothing like that which greeted Brighton’s goal.
That belief quickly dissipated as City took control but, for a spell, Liverpool had dared to dream.
Matt Doherty hit the bar for Wolves on the stroke of half-time and Diogo Jota was then denied by a fine save from Allison in the second half as Wolves threatened an equaliser before Mane sealed the points with the home side’s first shot on target in the second half with nine minutes remaining.
It would have been controversial had it counted for something as he was offside, heading past Patricio from another Alexander-Arnold delivery, but it didn’t matter.
In fact, if Virgil van Dijk’s header had not bounced back off the bar, Alexander-Arnold would have had a hat-trick of assists.
Liverpool had the points and the plaudits but not the prize.
Key Statistics
This is the fifth time Liverpool have finished second since winning the title last in 1990.
The last three teams to be top at Christmas and not win the league have been Liverpool – in 2008-09, 2013-14 and this season.
No team in Europe’s top five leagues have ever got 97 points and not won the league. The record had been Real Madrid’s 96, with Pep Guardiola also winning that title, with Barcelona.
Liverpool have not lost any of their last 91 Premier League games at Anfield when in front at half-time, since losing 2-1 against Arsenal in December 2009 (won 82, drawn nine).
They are unbeaten at home in consecutive top-flight seasons for the first time in 39 years.
Liverpool pair Mohamed Salah and Mane are joint winners of the Premier League Golden Boot along with Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – an African clean sweep.
Mane (22) is the first player to score more than 20 goals in a single Premier League campaign without any coming from the penalty spot since Luis Suarez (31) and Daniel Sturridge (21) did so, also for Liverpool, in 2013-14.
Mane has scored the opening goal of the game on nine occasions in the Premier League, the joint most of any player this season alongside Salah.
Alexander-Arnold has provided 12 assists in the Premier League in 2018-19: the most by a defender in a single campaign in the competition.
Liverpool are the first team in Premier League history to have two defenders each provide at least 10 assists in a season. Left-back Andy Robertson also set up 11 goals.
Liverpool keeper Alisson has won the Golden Glove with 21 league clean sheets.
This was the sixth time Liverpool and Wolves had met in their final game of a top-flight season.
Wolves have ended the season with the best league position and points total by a newly-promoted club since Ipswich came fifth with 66 points in 2000-01.
They have accrued 16 points from 11 league games against the top-six sides, easily the best return among the 14 lower-ranked clubs.
What’s next?
Liverpool now have near three weeks to prepare for the all-English Champions League Final against Spurs on June 1.
Wolves have possibly European football of their own next season, depending on the outcome of next week’s FA Cup Final.
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