By Connor Varnish – @cvarn4
There is – thankfully – no end to football.
Just as we were all finally settling down from an intense 10-month stretch where nearly every game felt as if it were make-or-break, the 2019/20 Premier League fixtures are released and we’re looking forward to doing it all again.
Jurgen Klopp’s men will host newly-promoted Norwich City in the first match of the campaign on the Friday night of August 9th. I’m sure plenty of videos of Luis Suarez’s 11 goals in five matches against the Canaries will do the rounds prior to the opener to put us all in the mood.
The remainder of Liverpool’s August is relatively manageable one, as the Reds’ toughest challenge comes via Unai Emery’s Arsenal as they make the trip up to Anfield on the 24th.
The Reds defeated each side they faced in the opening month of last year’s Premier League season – should we replicate this form the Reds have a fine chance of gaining an early lead on the title race.
Under Jurgen Klopp we’ve progressed every season and, should the squad match last year’s stellar 97 point tally, there is no doubt we’ll all be dreaming once again of a first league title since 1990. The champion will likely be decided by the head-to-head matches among the top six.
Here’s what Liverpool are looking at this time around:
The title could well be decided in the four fixtures against Manchester United and Manchester City. With all due respect to the remainder of the top six in their current state, Liverpool are head and shoulders above the rest barring City.
Regardless of form and present dysfunction in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team, the red side of Manchester will always pose a threat even in a total rebuild. One could argue Liverpool’s Premier League dreams were dashed last season from these four fixtures, as the Reds took a mere five points from 12 while City accumulated double that against us and United.
The winter period, as usual, will prove decisive in the title race. Liverpool host Everton on December 4th to kick-off the congested six-match month (hopefully we don’t need to rely on another Origi + 96’!).
Following the Merseyside Derby, the Reds face West Ham and Leicester on the bounce yet again this time on December 21st and 26th respectively – another pair of fixtures that proved to be a blip on Liverpool’s 2018/19 campaign.
LISTEN: The Kopite podcast gives its verdict on rumours surrounding Matthijs de Ligt, Nicolas Pépé and Nabil Fekir.