Liverpool will start off their Premier League 2016-17 season with a series of tough games across the first two months, the first of which will be a tough away trip to Arsenal. The Premier League season starts off on the 13th of August this year and Liverpool it seems, have been meted out a fairly difficult schedule to begin with. Here’s a look at the fixtures overall.
August-December
August:
Jurgen Klopp’s men will begin their campaign with an away trip to Arsenal at the Emirates followed by a home game against Burnley. The game against Burnley however, will find itself being changed into an away fixture for the Reds, who plan to ask the Premier League to affect the change owing to the ongoing redevelopment of Anfield which could continue well into the third week of the Premier League season.
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Following those fixtures, August will end with a trip to White Hart Lane where Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur will be waiting for the Reds.
September:
September will begin with a home game at Anfield against reigning Premier League champions, Leicester City with Chelsea away next in the pipeline.
It is this run of first five games continuing from August, should prove to be a really testing set of games for Jurgen Klopp’s side that will be playing after their first proper pre-season with the German coach. Liverpool could essentially end up dropping points, but should they end up with close to maximum points, the momentum could firmly swing in Liverpool’s favour for the rest of the season.
September will be rounded up with a game against freshly promoted Hull City at Anfield.
October:
October sees Liverpool face off with Swansea City away, Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion at home and Crystal Palace away. The October set of games, though tricky, could be a reasonable set for Klopp’s side with Crystal Palace away a potential banana peel out of the games this month.
The game against Manchester United could be a highlight of the first few months of the Premier League as Jose Mourinho, the man who effectively ended Liverpool’s title charge in 2013-14 in addition to a range of emotionally charged run-ins as Chelsea manager, will lead Liverpool’s arch rivals, Manchester United into Anfield right in the middle of his revolution at the Old Trafford club.
November:
In November, the Reds will play thrice, two of which will be home games against Watford and Sunderland with a trip to the St. Mary’s Stadium sandwiched in the middle with Southampton waiting for them with their new manager probably in the dugout by then.
After a really stressful first few games, the fixtures seem to be reasonable during this phase as Liverpool should find themselves reasonably placed in the League should they hold their own during this time.
December:
The festive period has never been quite merciful a time for any team in the Premier League but without the impending pain of European fixtures sandwiched in, Liverpool could find themselves better off than the rest of the teams with similar ambitions in this league.
However, Liverpool play six times this month which includes a run of four games in the first seventeen days. During this time, the Reds play away thrice to Bournemouth, Middlesbrough and Everton in the Merseyside derby. In between the away trips to Bournemouth and Middlesbrough, there’s a game against Slaven Bilic’s resurgent West Ham United at Anfield.
The games around Boxing Day, will thankfully be home games for the Reds with Klopp facing Stoke City first on boxing day. On New Year’s Eve, however, Jurgen Klopp will reignite his rivalry with former Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola as the Spaniard will take his Manchester City side to Anfield for the first time since his appointment. This could be the clash of the season for the Reds.
January-May
January
January will see the Reds face three Premier League games with the Cups slowly moving towards the tougher rounds of play too. The New Year starts off with Jurgen Klopp taking his side to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland. This will be followed by a trip to Old Trafford where Jose Mourinho’s side will look to give Jurgen Klopp’s side a really special welcome.
The month ends with a game at Anfield against Swansea City to sum up a reasonable set of Premier League fixtures.
February:
This could turn out to be a really crucial month for Liverpool as they face off with Antonio Conte’s Chelsea at Anfield followed by an away game against Hull City. The Reds will then welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Anfield followed by a trip to the King Power Stadium to face Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City.
This bunch of games comes at a crucial time for the Reds, as they will look to build momentum during this time for a strong end of season finish. The Liverpool side could find themselves derailed should they end up with not so favourable results from this set of games.
March:
Arsenal come calling at Anfield in March with Burnley scheduled to be an away game. Should Liverpool’s request of switching venues for the two fixtures in the list against Burnley, the game this month could take place at Anfield rather than Turf Moor.
The month ends with a mouth-watering clash against Manchester City who are expected to come to grips with Pep Guardiola’s methods by this time. With rivalries on song and philosophies of football clashing, this could again potentially be the game of the season for the Reds.
April:
The Reds find themselves in all sorts of trouble in terms of fixture congestion during this time. They already play six times in the Premier League in this month. That is of course, without any of the possible cup fixtures should they progress in either or both cups.
In this month, they play thrice away and thrice at home. The first day of the month sees the Merseyside Derby against Everton at Anfield followed by a visit from Bournemouth who will grace Anfield in four days from the Merseyside derby. Liverpool will visit Stoke City a few days after their game against Bournemouth followed by another away game this time against West Bromwich Albion.
A home game against Crystal Palace and away game against Watford round up the month which could see a number of sides slip up in the table.
May:
The Premier League ends for Liverpool with three games against Southampton, West Ham and Middlesbrough in that order. The game against Middlesbrough will be at Anfield meaning the Reds end the season with a home game.
The only away fixture for the month will be against West Ham United. This will also be the trickiest of the fixtures for the Reds in May and considering what they should be playing for, this fixture could hold great meaning at the upper end of the table should everything go according to plan for Liverpool this season.
Verdict
The Reds begin terribly strained but seem to have managed a reasonable set of fixtures after that with only the festive period and the month of April offering any form of congestion with regards to the Premier League alone.
The Reds will face their toughest run of games in the very beginning and across February through to March where they face Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City, Arsenal and Manchester City almost back to back with Away games against Hull and Burnley sandwiched in between.
The overall schedule doesn’t seem too bad but it is by no means an easy fixture list to navigate. Even without European duty to tend to, the fixtures will be tough in its own little way for the Reds. It will be interesting to see how Jurgen Klopp deals with it this time.
