Liverpool’s first eight games of the season have been a barrage of different challenges.The Reds have travelled to the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs, hosted the champions, Leicester City, and journeyed to relegation-threatened sides such as Burnley and Swansea, while playing Hull City at Anfield.After all of this, Jurgen Klopp’s side are just two points off the Premier League's summit, with their return of 17 just above the two-points-per-game return that guarantees 78 – the sort of tally needed for a top four finish come title challenge.Indeed, Leicester secured the biggest prize in our national game with 81 points to their name just a few months ago.So, are Liverpool among the teams we’re all watching as we begin to get an idea of who will lift the trophy come the end of May 2017? We at FFC Towers think so, and here are THREE stats to back that up…

Most Creative

Liverpool are Europe’s third most prolific team in terms of chances created, with 119 their name in league action. The Reds trail only Roma and Real Madrid in the overall order, which really is some going considering that only three of their eight matches have been at Anfield thus far, while heavyweight opponents such as Arsenal, Spurs, Leicester, Chelsea and Manchester United have been faced already.

Dominant in terms of possession

Possession isn’t everything – Leicester proved that during their title win last term – but having the ball is always a sign of dominance in a game. The general view is that Klopp’s teams work well out of possession and press their opponents into mistakes before pouncing, but the numbers (via WhoScored) show that, behind only Manchester City, they are truly supreme when it comes to keeping hold of the pig skin. Such a trend bodes well when combined with chance creation, seeing as the Merseysiders are entering a run of games against teams likely to be reactive rather than proactive in their approach.

Passes aplenty

With possession in plentiful supply, passes are naturally going to be commonplace, too, and Liverpool top the order in the Premier League in terms of playing the ball. Indeed, their tally of 4,854 (via the division’s official site) puts them ahead of Arsenal and Manchester City – interestingly West Brom (Saturday’s opponents) have complete fewer than half of Liverpool’s return of passes.