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Liverpool's high-wire act has been fraught with risk during this campaign and English top-flight title holders have now surrendered their composure dramatically to drop from first place of the standings.

Arne Slot's defending title holders secured wins with late goals in the early stages of the safeguarding of their title, counting on thrilling conclusions to escape to victory while masking performance that has proven inconsistent since the season started.

The Turning Tables

The Cherries, Newcastle United, The Gunners, Burnley and Atletico Madrid all fell to last-gasp blows – but it was a high-risk untenable approach, particularly with Liverpool away from optimal performance.

Currently they have experienced a bitter taste of their own medicine twice in one week.

Recent Losses

Chelsea's deserved 2-1 triumph came courtesy of Estevao Willian's 95th-minute finish, while Liverpool's first Premier League setback of the campaign was delivered by the striker's late strike for the Eagles.

In between these defeats, Galatasaray overcame Liverpool 1-0 in the special environment of Istanbul's impressive RAMS Park, with Slot losing three successive games for the first time in his managerial journey.

Manager's Perspective

"The previous week, same as the current week, the fine margins haven't been in our favor," Slot stated to broadcasters.

"During both fixtures we've produced better scoring chances than the team we have faced - but the truth is that we have only scored once in the two fixtures and the other team has netted two times."

Numerical Breakdown

Fine margins certainly - but there is no denying the remarkable swing in results. A remarkable ten scores have been converted following the final ten minutes in Liverpool's eleven fixtures to date this campaign.

The majority of those scores have altered the final score of the fixture.

Liverpool's Late Goals - Winning and Losing

The successes...

• Liverpool 4-2 The Cherries - Federico Chiesa 88' and The Egyptian star 90+4'

• Newcastle 2-3 The visitors - Rio Ngumoha 90+10'

• The home side 1-0 The Gunners - Dominik Szoboszlai 83'

• Burnley 0-1 Liverpool - Mohamed Salah (pen) 90+3'

• The English side 3-2 The Spanish club - The defender 90+2'

• Southampton 1-2 The visitors - The striker 85'

The defeats...

• Crystal Palace 2-1 Liverpool - Federico Chiesa 87' and The forward 90+7'

• Chelsea 2-1 The champions - The Brazilian 90+5'

Underlying Challenges

Late goals or otherwise, the harsh reality is that Liverpool have appeared as a weak version of the team that sailed to the English title previous campaign.

Liverpool have looked unbalanced after an introduction of around £450m value of new signings.

Tactical Changes

Slot gave Liverpool a more typical setup by dropping the German playmaker to bring back the title-winning engine room of Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and The Argentine.

The visitors were less open, though the midfielder was moved to defensive position when the defender was replaced at the interval.

Individual Challenges

The Egyptian superstar, one of the greatest footballers ever to wear the red jersey, has been representative of their challenges.

Only a fool would write off the experienced player who has been displaying flashes of excellence since he arrived at the stadium in June 2017.

Looking Ahead

Following the team reorganize post the FIFA window, they will reasonably hope for considerably more from their expensive attacking talent.

From a squad threatening to carry all before it before in the term, though while not being at their best and counting on injury-time finishes, Liverpool currently appear shaky.

This represents the worst week for Slot since he succeeded Jurgen Klopp.

Many lament the break of the national team window – the struggling side are presently struggling so badly they could possibly value the chance to refresh psychologically.