1987/88: Newcastle v Liverpool

Sunday September 20, 1988. The First Division season has only been in up and running for a month, yet it is hard not to arrive at a premature conclusion. For the millions of viewers watching the BBC live coverage of Liverpool's win at Newcastle, all the evidence points to the fact that the title will once again be going to Anfield.

Hindsight shows us that all the kneejerk reactions were right. Ian Rush may have departed, but Kenny Dalglish had dipped into the transfer market to add key parts to his latest machine. John Aldridge had arrived in January 1987, and with Peter Beardsley and John Barnes joining in the summer, Liverpool were well equipped to wrestle the title back from Everton.

1987/88: Liverpool v Nottingham Forest

There are always debates relating to greatness in sport. Constant comparisons between individuals and teams from various eras spark conversations in pubs, on phone-ins and social media, as those involved dig their heels in and present evidence supporting their case. 

Arguing about the greatest football team to ever play the sport could prove tiring. Judgement is often clouded by club allegiances, recency bias, or the more mature among us refusing to believe that a team from the distant past will ever be surpassed.

Take the Liverpool team in the 1987/88 season. Surely there can be no argument that Kenny Dalglish's side were great, as they swept aside the rest of the First Division with football that seemed to be from a different planet. The last great Liverpool team of that era has to enter a competitive field as the best to hail from Anfield during the glory years.