2013–14 Liverpool F.C. season

The 2013–14 season was Liverpool Football Club's 122nd season in existence and their 52nd consecutive season in the top flight of English football. This was also the club's 22nd consecutive season in the Premier League. Along with the Premier League, Liverpool also competed in the FA Cup and Football League Cup.

OwnerFenway Sports Group

ChairmanTom Werner

ManagerBrendan Rodgers

StadiumAnfield

Quick facts season, Owner ...

Liverpool

2013–14 season
Owner	Fenway Sports Group
Chairman	Tom Werner
Manager	Brendan Rodgers
Stadium	Anfield
Premier League	2nd
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Luis Suárez (31) All: Luis Suárez (31)
Highest home attendance	44,822 vs. Stoke City (17 August 2013, Premier League)[1]
Average home league attendance	44,671 (in Premier League)[2]
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2012–13 2014–15 →

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Liverpool enjoyed a memorable season, scoring 101 league goals; the highest number of goals scored by a Premier League runner-up, until 2020, when Manchester City scored 102 goals while finishing second. It is also the fifth highest number of goals ever scored in the Premier League.^[3]

Luis Suárez finished as the Premier League's top scorer with 31 goals, winning the Premier League Golden Boot as well as the PFA Players' Player of the Year, while Daniel Sturridge was the league's second highest scorer with 21. Steven Gerrard topped the official Premier League assists chart with 13.^[4]

Liverpool had a pre-season dominated by speculation about whether Luis Suárez would leave the club. Suárez had served four matches of a ten-match ban for biting Branislav Ivanović in the previous season,^[5] and Arsenal reportedly agreed terms and offered £40,000,001 for the player based on a rumoured £40 million release clause in Suárez's contract.^[6] Suárez stated he would like to leave the club^[7] and was then told to train away from the first-team squad.^[8] On 8 August, Liverpool owner John W. Henry stated that Suárez would not be allowed to leave the club.^[9]

A Simon Mignolet penalty save on the opening day gave Liverpool the first of three 1–0 victories to begin the season. A subsequent draw and loss saw Liverpool drop to fifth place on the table when Suárez completed his ban. From the next match until the end of the season, Liverpool would average 2.9 goals per game. They were top of the table at Christmas before back-to-back 2–1 defeats away at Manchester City and Chelsea. In that key Manchester City fixture, Raheem Sterling was onside by well over a metre but had his goal disallowed for offside in an "awful decision"^[10] that both BT Sport commentators called as onside immediately, saying "you could see it with your naked eye".^[10]

A 5–1 home win over then league-leaders Arsenal on 8 February featured four Liverpool goals in the opening 20 minutes. With a mid-week 90th-minute penalty at Fulham, Liverpool won again and the winning run would eventually extend to 11 games, included Liverpool defeating title rivals, Manchester City, on 13 April, in the same week as the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. A subsequent mid-week Manchester City draw meant Liverpool would win the league if they got ten points from their remaining 4 games.

Their next match was a 2–3 away win at Norwich City that secured Liverpool's pre-season aim of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League. However, the following 0–2 home defeat to Chelsea put the title back in Manchester City's favour due to their significantly better goal difference.^[11][12] That pivotal match was marred by Chelsea's "comically brazen" time-wasting,^[13] that went unpunished until the 93rd minute by Martin Atkinson (despite José Mourinho telling his players he wanted "at least two bookings for time-wasting before half-time"),^[14] and it is foremost known for a Steven Gerrard slip that led to Chelsea's key goal by Demba Ba. Gerrard has spoken of his anguish over the slip, saying it was "even tougher than what people probably think it was".^[15] Other key moments cited as playing a part in Liverpool falling short of the title include the previously mentioned incorrectly disallowed goal by Raheem Sterling at Manchester City's Etihad Stadium,^[16] Kolo Touré passing the ball to Victor Anichebe allowing West Bromwich Albion to earn a draw on 2 February^[17] and Jordan Henderson's 93rd minute sending-off (and associated three-match ban) in the home game versus Manchester City, which Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers thought was "a huge miss for us" because Liverpool "couldn't replace Jordan".^[18][19][20]

Liverpool's attempts to reverse Manchester City's +9 goal difference advantage in their penultimate game against Crystal Palace saw their initial 0–3 lead pegged back to a 3–3 draw.^[21] Liverpool finished in second place, two points behind Manchester City, after they defeated Newcastle United on the final day. This represented the closest the club had come to winning the league title since 1990.

The season was the first since 1995–96 without Jamie Carragher, who retired from professional football after the 2012–13 season.