They will be given a guard of honour in their next fixture, which coincidentally comes against City at the Etihad Stadium next Thursday. Guardiola’s side, champions in each of the last two seasons, have been unable to match Liverpool’s remarkable, relentless form.
The tone was set from the very start, Klopp’s side winning each of their opening eight league games to open up a significant gap on the chasing pack.
That run ended with a draw at Manchester United in October, but they responded to that setback in incredible fashion, winning their next 18 league games – including a 3-1 victory over City in November and a comprehensive 4-0 thrashing of second-placed Leicester on Boxing Day.
When they won 2-0 at West Ham on January 29, Liverpool had achieved another piece of history. For the first time ever, they had beaten each and every team in a top-flight league season. Their superiority was unarguable.
At that point, the hope was that they could match Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ of 2003-04 and go through the entire league campaign unbeaten, but a shock 3-0 loss to Watford in late February put paid to that.
Then came the ultimate spanner in the works, with the Premier League’s suspension in mid-March due to the coronavirus crisis. Liverpool were 25 points clear at the pause, needing just six more in order to be crowned champions.
But they were made to wait as the world came to terms with the impact of Covid-19. Despite calls in some quarters to “null and void” the Premier League season, Klopp and his side were able to retain their focus throughout a period of lockdown, eventually returning to action last Sunday with a low-key goalless draw at Everton.
That led some to question, absurdly, whether they might be starting to wobble in sight of the finishing line, but they responded in fine style on Wednesday, thrashing Palace in what may well be their most convincing home performance of the entire season.
Then, 24 hours later, came the moment of confirmation. Klopp, Goal understands, was watching at home as City failed to defeat fourth-placed Chelsea.