Liverpool’s principal owner John W Henry saluted his team’s “season for the ages” as they were crowned English champions for the first time in 30 years on Thursday. Jurgen Klopp’s side won the Premier League without kicking a ball after second-placed Manchester City were beaten 2-1 at Chelsea. It was the culmination of a remarkable campaign for Liverpool, who have won 28 of their 31 league games, clinched the title earlier than any other Premier League champions and also lifted the Club World Cup in December.

US tycoon Henry, whose Fenway Sports Group bought Liverpool in 2010, tweeted: “This was a season for the ages and for the faithful of Liverpool Football Club.

“It has been an incredible year of magnificent achievement culminating tonight in capturing the Premier League title.

“The totality of this accomplishment has brought respite and joy to so many in a year filled with so much tragedy.

“LFC has made the beautiful game more beautiful than ever.

“It is said, ‘We are Liverpool’. You, the supporters are Liverpool in every sense and you continue to drive the club forward – a historic club making history once again.”

The defensive mistakes that have undone Manchester City’s title challenge were in evidence as Christian Pulisic punished two errors by Benjamin Mendy to open the scoring.

Kevin De Bruyne’s brilliant free-kick brought the visitors level, but Liverpool’s 30-year wait to win a league title was ended when Fernandinho was sent-off for palming the ball clear off his own goal line and Willian converted the resulting penalty 12 minutes from time.

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A huge three points for Frank Lampard’s men moves them within a point of third-placed Leicester and opens a five-point advantage over Manchester United and Wolves in the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

As it stands, City are banned from European competition for the next two seasons, but still have aspirations to win the Champions League for the first time when the competition resumes in August.