Liverpool’s dream begins with two myths of the Premier League games destroyed

Arne Slot will discover his first Premier League games as Liverpool’s fixture list is confirmed.

The Premier League kicks off at 9am with the Reds welcoming a new era at Anfield as Slot takes over from Jurgen Klopp.

A simple start to the season would appeal to Slot as he looks to acclimatise to life at Liverpool, but what would that look like? Our writers have their say:

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Ian Doyle: One of the great myths of football is that the fixture list is random. Is not. This is why Liverpool never face Manchester United or Everton on the opening or final weekend of a season, and why local derbies are generally kept away from such already great weekends.

Also look at how many times Liverpool look to play Wolves at home on the last day of the season. It’s happened three times in the last six campaigns – grossly defying the laws of probability.

There is a reason for this. The fixture calculator is necessary because certain games are kept away from certain occasions, some clubs cannot both be at home on the same weekend, other events might mean that matches are played away from one venue on a certain date and so on. It takes time to sort everything out.

And the other big myth is that the list doesn’t matter. After all, everyone plays the same teams home and away. But the order in which they are played, and particularly how a club starts a campaign, can go a long way in shaping perceptions from the start – which, given Arne Slot has the onerous task of replacing Jurgen Klopp, will be crucial for Liverpool. .

Under Klopp, the Reds have either played a team from the London region (West Ham home, Arsenal, Chelsea and Watford away) or a promoted team (Norwich home and away, Leeds United home, Fulham away) so there is no nothing to suggest there will be. be a change from that. Given that Liverpool were at Stamford Bridge last season, they seem unlikely to have a major rival on the opening day and they haven’t started at home since 2020. So someone like Brentford or Southampton at Anfield wouldn’t be surprising.

After that, the longer Liverpool can avoid tough road tests against top clubs – last season they played Chelsea, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur away before the end of September – the better chance they have to adapt at the Slot. methods.

It is inevitable that they will play one of their main rivals in the first six games, but no more than that and three winnable games at home and the new era can be opened.

Joe Rimmer: Premier League seasons are all about momentum – and that’s why a good fixture list is exactly what Arne Slot needs to start life at Anfield.

Chelsea away was a difficult opener for the Reds last season, but a better run over the next five games saw Liverpool win each and start a title challenge in the early part of the season.

Fellow rivals Man City and Arsenal have also enjoyed favorable openings, with Newcastle and West Ham the only two top-flight sides Pep Guardiola’s men have faced in their opening seven games.

Indeed, it was a similar story the previous year, with Man City only facing Newcastle as their only challenge at the top in their opening eight games, with Arsenal having five games before meeting Manchester United. The Reds, on the other hand, faced United away in their third game of the campaign.

I strongly believe this leads to a belief and confidence among the players before they face the biggest challenges down the road. They struggle in the opening matches and it takes a team with a supreme mentality to steady the ship and continue to challenge for the top titles.

And it is for this reason that I think Liverpool’s dream start starts with a promoted team at Anfield on day one, say Ipswich, before facing another trio in three or four games. An early season clash with a rival is fine, but it has to be at Anfield where an early marker can be laid down.

You don’t want a derby there too soon, and big trips to away rivals can wait. Chuck the likes of Bournemouth and Fulham at home in the first six games and we look good.