Jurgen Klopp has done it again. Liverpool has defied odds to emerge as a real title challenger

MANCHESTER, England — Jurgen Klopp led Liverpool to a complete collection of major trophies from 2019-22. So it should be no surprise to see him back in contention for the Premier League title this season.

Yet, even with his record, Liverpool’s resurgence seems to have come from nowhere.

“It’s like nobody expected us there. I didn’t think about it. I thought it was possible, but didn’t really think about it,” Klopp said after his team’s 0-0 draw with Manchester United on Sunday.

It is a measure of Liverpool’s form that a point against its fiercest rival was greeted with disappointment. The draw ended the Merseyside club’s 100% 11-game winning run at Anfield this season and saw it drop to second in the table as Arsenal moved a point clear at the top.

But a title challenge never looked likely for a team that was in disarray last season and was expected to go through a period of transition.

Having been in contention for a clean sweep of trophies up until the final two games of the season in 2022, Liverpool ended up empty-handed a year later and failed to even qualify for the Champions League.

With star players like Sadio Mane, Jordan Henderson and Roberto Firmino having departed, Klopp has had to embark on a hasty rebuild, with doubts about his ability recruit players of the quality of many who left.

It remains to be seen if his current squad can come close to emulating the success of his previous team, but just one defeat in the league, while Liverpool is also still in contention in all its other cup competitions, is cause for optimism.

And in a season when Manchester City’s title defense is faltering after a run of one win in six in the league, Klopp is the only challenger to have experience of overcoming Pep Guardiola.

Not…