The Top-of-the-Table Clash Everyone Was Waiting For

The fixtures came thick and fast, and time flew by.

Before they knew it, 2018 had arrived.

On January 1, the first day of the new year, Liverpool traveled to Burnley.

It was matchweek 22 of the league season.

With a difficult January ahead, Klopp rotated his squad for this match.

Chen Anno did not play a single minute.

Burnley were notoriously formidable at home, with counterattacks that were fast and ruthless.

But even against opponents like these, Liverpool's second string had enough to cope.

In the end, goals from Chamberlain and Lallana, who had returned from injury, gave Liverpool a narrow 2–1 win over Burnley.

On January 5, Liverpool played their first FA Cup match of the season at Anfield.

Their opponents were their city rivals, Everton.

Chen Anno started this Merseyside Derby, but played only 60 minutes.

Goals from him and Salah secured another narrow 2–1 win for Liverpool, sending them into the next round.

On January 9, Liverpool hosted West Bromwich Albion in a rescheduled matchweek 17 fixture.

Sitting bottom of the table this season, West Bromwich Albion had limited quality and inconsistent form.

Klopp once again made several changes.

In the end, Liverpool cruised to a 2–0 victory.

Notably, their midfield stalwart Rodri finally returned from injury.

He came off the bench in the 60th minute and delivered a steady, if unspectacular, performance.

Rodri's return meant a great deal to Liverpool.

With him orchestrating play in midfield, the burden on Chen Anno's shoulders would be a little lighter.

Liverpool's unbeaten run now stood at 61 matches across two seasons.

Sixty-one matches unbeaten—a number worthy of a place in English football history.

Even across all of European football, only two teams had managed unbeaten runs that long.

One was Romanian club Steaua Bucharest, who went 104 matches