The EPL\u2019s weirdest ever score writ large: Aston Villa shocked Liverpool and the world on Sunday. (Image: Associated Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLiverpool is\u00a0 among the best soccer teams in the world — arguably the best — but that meant squat after Aston Villa\u2019s seventh goal sailed into the back of the net in the 75th minute at Villa Park on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
In fact, everything you ever thought you knew about soccer suddenly turned on its head. The game finished 7-2, but it could have been ten or eleven.<\/p>\n
A team that had escaped relegation last season by a single point, and who were 9\/1 to cause an upset going into the game, outplayed and outclassed one of the truly great EPL teams — and scored seven goals.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
This was the most bonkers result in the league\u2019s history \u2013 or, at the very least, since Spurs beat Manchester Utd 6-1 just hours earlier.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\nIn fact, those two results \u2013 along with West Ham\u2019s eyebrow-raising victory at Leicester \u2013 meant this was perhaps the strangest day in league history, or \u201cthe day football went crazy,\u201d as one British tabloid newspaper had it.<\/p>\n
Unpredictable Season<\/strong><\/h2>\nAfter its victory against Arsenal last week, Liverpool was an odds-on favorite to win the league. Now, it\u2019s a slightly less surefire 5\/4.<\/p>\n
Manchester City is not too far behind at 6\/4, and the Sky Blues would likely have usurped the champions as favorites had they not had a lukewarm start to the season of their own.<\/p>\n
Which means the only team that still has a 100 percent record is perennial mid-tabler Everton.<\/p>\n
Could this be the most unpredictable season since Leicester ran away with the title in 2016, having begun the year as a 5,000 to 1 outsider? Or will the natural order be restored as the long run sets in?<\/p>\n
One off?<\/strong><\/h2>\nAnd if you decided to put your money on Liverpool at the beginning of the season for a reasonable chance of a small ROI, how safe now is your stake? Not even Liverpool\u2019s German manager Jurgen Klopp could provide an answer.<\/p>\n
\u00a0What should I be now?\u201d he asked traumatized Liverpool fans in a statement on the team\u2019s website. \u201cCompletely outraged or something like that? Is it only a one-off? I would think so, I would like to think so, but that I cannot prove tonight. If people want to hear it, I can say it: that\u2019s a one-off. The proof for that will be in the next couple of weeks and months and not because I say it tonight. A game like tonight should not happen.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nWas it just a bizarre case of every single player in the team having an off day? Liverpool play local rival and league leader Everton next Saturday, so we\u2019ll soon find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool remains the favorite with bookmakers to retain the English Premier League title, despite the team receiving an unlikely hiding on Sunday. Liverpool is\u00a0 among the best soccer teams in the world — arguably the best — but that meant squat after Aston Villa\u2019s seventh goal sailed into the back of the net in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":151217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Liverpool Still EPL Favorite Despite 7-2 Battering at Villa<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n