How they won it

The area where Klopp has ignored outsiders' advice, doubled down on his game plan and benefited. He prefers a hardworking, narrow trio who knit the team together and who serve to support the full-backs, centre-backs and forwards in different ways. He is not concerned about the absence of a creator-in-chief or a natural goalscorer and has been vindicated. Fabinho was the outstanding defensive midfielder in England until he was injured in November. Then Jordan Henderson had a golden three months as the driving force, capped by an unexpected burst of two goals and three assists in four games. Georginio Wijnaldum has been quietly consistent.