Anfield dared to dream when Glenn Murray gave the Seagulls a shock lead, but his strike was instantly cancelled out by Sergio Aguero before Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan made it back-to-back titles.
The Reds did all they could – Sadio Mane’s brace sealed a 2-0 win over Wolves – and they will finish second with a staggering, record-breaking 97 points.
Elsewhere, Manchester United’s dreadful season ended in fitting fashion with a shocking 2-0 defeat at home to already-relegated Cardiff City.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing struck twice to raise more questions over the appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, whose side finish the campaign without a win in their last six games.
The top four might’ve been all-but decided already, but Tottenham scuppered a fine opportunity to leapfrog Chelsea into third by slipping to a 2-2 draw at home to Everton.
Fresh from their miraculous Champions League comeback in Amsterdam, Spurs took the early lead through Eric Dier before two quickfire goals from Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun turned things around.
Christian Eriksen equalised but it wasn’t enough to climb above the Blues, who played out a goalless draw at Leicester.
Arsenal needed an unrealistic eight-goal swing to usurp Tottenham in the top four and now the Gunners must win their Europa League final against Chelsea to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Nonetheless, they still beat Burnley 3-1 thanks largely to a brace from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – leaving the Gabon international level with Mane and Mohamed Salah as the league’s joint-top scorers this season with 22 goals.
The final day usually provides a ludicrous amount of goals and today was no exception.