For the second time in this decade, Liverpool will go into a new season as defending Premier League champions.The sports betting odds have the Reds as favourites to retain their crown, especially after an ambitious transfer window in which they’ve spent big on the likes of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike, and the Merseysiders will definitely hope to put up a better title defence than they did in 2020/21.Five seasons ago, our hopes of going back-to-back were decimated by an injury crisis and a collapse in form over the winter which left us grateful just to salvage Champions League qualification.A lot has changed in the intervening years, with a different head coach and not many surviors from the previous title defence at Anfield, but there are pertinent lessons from that campaign that Liverpool would be wise to heed in 2025/26.(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)Ensure every position is adequately coveredAsk any Reds fan to sum up the 2020/21 season in four words and they’ll probably respond with ‘centre-back injury crisis’.Our defensive options were decimated in that campaign to the extent that midfielders Fabinho and Jordan Henderson were deployed as an emergency centre-back partnership, before the inexperienced Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams stepped up to help us secure a third-place finish.There are worrying portents for Liverpool going into the new season, with Slot currently having just two fit senior options in central defence after Joe Gomez’s injury.The precedent is there from five years ago, so Richard Hughes simply must recruit at least one centre-back before the end of August.Use the entire squadVirgil van Dijk’s ACL injury in the Merseyside derby on 17 October is often cited as the day that Liverpool’s 2020/21 season was doomed to disaster, but there was an equally damaging body blow on 9 December.The Reds had already secured first place in their Champions League group when they travelled to face Midtjylland in a dead-rubber clash, although Jurgen Klopp gambled by selecting a few familiar starters…and the unnecessary risk backfired horrendously.(Photo by Scott Heppell – Pool/Getty Images)The late Diogo Jota, who’d been enjoying a terrific first few months at Anfield, was one of those picked to start, and he hobbled out of the game in Denmark, sidelining him until mid-March. By the time he returned, hopes of a title challenge had turned to a scramble just to qualify for Europe.Slot didn’t tend to deviate much from his preferred starting XI last season, but in 2025/26, he simply must utilise the full depth of his squad and rotate when possible, especially if we’re fortunate enough to secure our passage to the Champions League knockout stage with matches to spare.Beware a bounceback from the chasing packLiverpool’s romp to the Premier League title last season will have riled direct rivals such as Arsenal and Manchester City, and the Merseysiders must be prepared for a backlash from that duo.Pep Guardiola’s side didn’t take kindly to being deposed in 2020 and duly roared back to reclaim the domestic crown with no prolonged challenge from elsewhere. Their early-summer transfer business indicates a statement of intent that they don’t want to be also-rans again in 2025/26.As for the Gunners, they’ve been knocking on the door for the past three years without being able to break through it. The acquisition of Viktor Gyokeres shows that they’re serious about taking that final (and biggest) leap, and they’ll surely carry more of a goal threat than they did last term, when that was the rock on which any true title challenge perished.The post 3 lessons Liverpool must learn from the last time they were Premier League champions appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.