Liverpool struggling on the pitch but thrashing Chelsea and Arsenal off it

Liverpool, the five-time European champions who have won the English title a joint-record 18 times, are struggling on the pitch but comprehensively outperforming their rivals online.

The club's official Facebook page has more than one million fans - more than every other official Premier League fan-page put together - while its Twitter feed has more than 55,000 fans. In comparison, London clubs Chelsea and Arsenal have just under 18,000 followers. Manchester United, the English champions for the last three seasons, do not run an official Twitter account.

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"LFC are a global club and we want to engage fans wherever they are," the club's community manager Matt Owen told the Liverpool Echo newspaper. "Many of them come to see us every week, some of them come to our forums, but not everybody will.

"Our fans are everywhere. Our approach is to speak to our fans wherever they are."

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However, Chelsea hope to challenge Liverpool's supremacy on Facebook, after launching a new official site last week featuring exclusive content including news, videos and behind-the-scenes pictures. It has already given fans the chance to engage in a live-streamed web interview with Petr Cech, the club's goalkeeper.