Liverpool 2018-19 Schedule Breakdown: Five Portions of the Premier League Schedule that are Crucial to Next Season
With the release of the match fixtures for the Premier League next season, many fans have already singled out their favorite matches for next season, or ones that excite them the most. Today, I'm breaking down the five key segments of the Liverpool side's schedule and giving you what they mean to the side. Let's begin.
1. A Hot Start:
Eyes will always go to the first few fixtures, or the first one specifically. This season is no different, but has the potential to really set the tone for next season. The season opens at home with a match against what will be surely a new-look West Ham, with new manager Manuel Pellegrini and much excited talk about new transfers, including Ryan Fredericks from Fulham coming in on a free, Toulouse defender Issa Diop reportedly near a deal, and James Maddison from Norwich potentially coming in. With Manuel Lanzini injured, however, this is a Hammers team that could look very intriguing as a whole by the first day of the season.
This first match isn't the only key one early in the year. In fact, the other two matches in the month of August will be important for the squad. A visit to South London to take on Crystal Palace is followed by another home bout against Brighton and Hove Albion. With these three matches, all three opponents stayed up comfortably, but all three finished in the bottom half of the table. Depending on their changes this summer, you are looking at three games that one would call 'winnable' and surely three fixtures that their top four rivals would not be too intimidated by. Liverpool cannot fear them either.
2. Back-to-Backs:
Liverpool were fairly lucky to avoid any serious long stretches of the more difficult top-six matches that one may expect to cause trouble, but this schedule is not without its periods that will need to be navigated gingerly. The first of which comes at the end of September into October as Liverpool will first have to head to London to take on Chelsea, then in mid-week they will have a Champions League group stage match, finally, they will host last season's champions, Manchester City, in a match that surely every Liverpool fan will have circled and highlighted on their own schedules at home. There is an international break immediately after the City match, but with three matches of high importance for the side early on, you would hope that the squad's fresh legs will carry them through.
The other more difficult back-to-back for this Liverpool team occurs around the festive time, as December bleeds into January. Liverpool will play host to Newcastle on Boxing Day, which may not cause the greatest of tribulations, but just three days later will welcome Arsenal to Anfield, followed quickly by their return visit to Manchester City on New Year's Day. December always seems to provide a congested schedule for Premier League sides, and 2018 looks to be no different as Liverpool will need to be at their best form in a tough stretch to maximize their points from these three matches.
3. Champions League Complications:
Liverpool fought hard to get in the Champions League and have done well already to put together a side that will attempt to challenge in both continental and domestic competitions. Fixtures, however, can clog up a stretch of the schedule and thus make things a bit more difficult to do that. That may be the case this season for the Reds. The match before each Champions League group stage is as follows: away to Tottenham, the aforementioned trip to Chelsea, at Huddersfield, away to Arsenal, away to Watford, and, finally, away to Bournemouth (this one comes sandwiched between that and hosting Manchester United).
Liverpool will have to travel in the league before every single group stage match, and three of those trips are to sides that finished alongside them in the top six. Especially for the three matches where Liverpool will have to do traveling in the Champions League, some problems may arise in terms of time spent training, jet-lag perhaps, and simply just the difficulty of traveling twice in a row. There is a reason teams like to avoid trips in European competitions to sides in Eastern Europe, those away legs are often grueling trips to take. Liverpool have lost or draw to sides from Russia (Spartak Moscow, Anzhi Makhachkala, Zenit St. Petersburg), Turkey (Besiktas), and Bulgaria (Ludograts Razgrad) since 2012 in European competitions. Traveling is tough, and Liverpool will hope that their Champions League away days are kind to them in the group stages.
4. Relegation Clashes:
It is difficult to make projections over who will be the sides most likely to go down for next season before the summer transfer window's dust has even begun to settle. Still, you can attempt to make well-educated guesses based on the past season's results. If we can attempt to go by that, then Liverpool could potentially face more than one relegation candidate out of their final four matches of the season, as they close the league's year off with a trip to Cardiff, a home bout against Huddersfield, and away day in Newcastle, and finally, a home tie with Wolves. Wolves are making some very smart business moves with Wily Boly and Diego Jota being brought back, Mexican star Raul Jimenez being brought in from Benfica, and continual links to other star Portuguese players or players from Liga NOS. Meanwhile, Rafa Benitez surely is good enough to guide Newcastle to safety again. But there are scenarios where all four sides could desperately need points by the end of the season.
Cardiff, under Neil Warnock, are known for being exceptionally hard to break down, which Liverpool has had noted trouble with. With them hosting a match in a situation where a point would go a long way for the Welsh side, we could see 11 men behind the ball from opening kick-off. Huddersfield has had their struggles and dramatic security clinching triumphs well noted, but they are tabbed for being in danger yet again. There is no guarantee that Rafa gets money from Mike Ashley, the club's owner, to mold his team into his image, and in fact, he could potentially leave Newcastle if that's the case. Finally, what if this Wolves side does not click together and finds struggle in the added challenge of the Premier League? What if talisman Ruben Neves leaves? What if John Ruddy, the side's keeper, stays their first-choice? There are some questions to be answered with them as well, despite the fact that they have top half potential. These late-season bouts could be just as important for Liverpool's opponents as they are for the side in red.
5. Early-December Importance:
The fixtures at the very end of 2018, and the first of 2019, were already covered, but the first three matches of the last month of the year all bring some intrigue as well. Liverpool open on the first of the month at home to Everton in the first installment of next season's Merseyside Derbies. They then travel to Burnley at midweek to take on last season's surprise side before having to travel to Bournemouth on the weekend. This stretch also, as noted previously, bleeds into a midweek Champions League match, then a home match against Manchester United. With two league away matches in a row, both venues that have tripped up Liverpool in previous seasons, coming right after what will surely be a heated derby match, this is a portion of the schedule that may not get the eyes drawn to it right away, but it deserves at least a little bit of acknowledgment.
Final Thoughts:
At first glance, I think one would say that this isn't a greatly troubling schedule, but upon deeper inspection I would say it, overall, is not soft by any means. You avoid some of the problems that plagued last season's schedule (i.e., playing Chelsea as the penultimate game of the season away) but you have a pair of tough back-to-back top six match-ups as well in the season. I think that as a whole, this is a tougher schedule than last season for the Reds, but it is nothing that cannot be managed by them as a complete side.
Follow me on Twitter @RMABTweets for more LFC coverage, including live-Tweeting of the matches, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Michigan basketball coverage!
1. A Hot Start:
Eyes will always go to the first few fixtures, or the first one specifically. This season is no different, but has the potential to really set the tone for next season. The season opens at home with a match against what will be surely a new-look West Ham, with new manager Manuel Pellegrini and much excited talk about new transfers, including Ryan Fredericks from Fulham coming in on a free, Toulouse defender Issa Diop reportedly near a deal, and James Maddison from Norwich potentially coming in. With Manuel Lanzini injured, however, this is a Hammers team that could look very intriguing as a whole by the first day of the season.
This first match isn't the only key one early in the year. In fact, the other two matches in the month of August will be important for the squad. A visit to South London to take on Crystal Palace is followed by another home bout against Brighton and Hove Albion. With these three matches, all three opponents stayed up comfortably, but all three finished in the bottom half of the table. Depending on their changes this summer, you are looking at three games that one would call 'winnable' and surely three fixtures that their top four rivals would not be too intimidated by. Liverpool cannot fear them either.
2. Back-to-Backs:
Liverpool were fairly lucky to avoid any serious long stretches of the more difficult top-six matches that one may expect to cause trouble, but this schedule is not without its periods that will need to be navigated gingerly. The first of which comes at the end of September into October as Liverpool will first have to head to London to take on Chelsea, then in mid-week they will have a Champions League group stage match, finally, they will host last season's champions, Manchester City, in a match that surely every Liverpool fan will have circled and highlighted on their own schedules at home. There is an international break immediately after the City match, but with three matches of high importance for the side early on, you would hope that the squad's fresh legs will carry them through.
The other more difficult back-to-back for this Liverpool team occurs around the festive time, as December bleeds into January. Liverpool will play host to Newcastle on Boxing Day, which may not cause the greatest of tribulations, but just three days later will welcome Arsenal to Anfield, followed quickly by their return visit to Manchester City on New Year's Day. December always seems to provide a congested schedule for Premier League sides, and 2018 looks to be no different as Liverpool will need to be at their best form in a tough stretch to maximize their points from these three matches.
3. Champions League Complications:
Liverpool fought hard to get in the Champions League and have done well already to put together a side that will attempt to challenge in both continental and domestic competitions. Fixtures, however, can clog up a stretch of the schedule and thus make things a bit more difficult to do that. That may be the case this season for the Reds. The match before each Champions League group stage is as follows: away to Tottenham, the aforementioned trip to Chelsea, at Huddersfield, away to Arsenal, away to Watford, and, finally, away to Bournemouth (this one comes sandwiched between that and hosting Manchester United).
Liverpool will have to travel in the league before every single group stage match, and three of those trips are to sides that finished alongside them in the top six. Especially for the three matches where Liverpool will have to do traveling in the Champions League, some problems may arise in terms of time spent training, jet-lag perhaps, and simply just the difficulty of traveling twice in a row. There is a reason teams like to avoid trips in European competitions to sides in Eastern Europe, those away legs are often grueling trips to take. Liverpool have lost or draw to sides from Russia (Spartak Moscow, Anzhi Makhachkala, Zenit St. Petersburg), Turkey (Besiktas), and Bulgaria (Ludograts Razgrad) since 2012 in European competitions. Traveling is tough, and Liverpool will hope that their Champions League away days are kind to them in the group stages.
4. Relegation Clashes:
It is difficult to make projections over who will be the sides most likely to go down for next season before the summer transfer window's dust has even begun to settle. Still, you can attempt to make well-educated guesses based on the past season's results. If we can attempt to go by that, then Liverpool could potentially face more than one relegation candidate out of their final four matches of the season, as they close the league's year off with a trip to Cardiff, a home bout against Huddersfield, and away day in Newcastle, and finally, a home tie with Wolves. Wolves are making some very smart business moves with Wily Boly and Diego Jota being brought back, Mexican star Raul Jimenez being brought in from Benfica, and continual links to other star Portuguese players or players from Liga NOS. Meanwhile, Rafa Benitez surely is good enough to guide Newcastle to safety again. But there are scenarios where all four sides could desperately need points by the end of the season.
Cardiff, under Neil Warnock, are known for being exceptionally hard to break down, which Liverpool has had noted trouble with. With them hosting a match in a situation where a point would go a long way for the Welsh side, we could see 11 men behind the ball from opening kick-off. Huddersfield has had their struggles and dramatic security clinching triumphs well noted, but they are tabbed for being in danger yet again. There is no guarantee that Rafa gets money from Mike Ashley, the club's owner, to mold his team into his image, and in fact, he could potentially leave Newcastle if that's the case. Finally, what if this Wolves side does not click together and finds struggle in the added challenge of the Premier League? What if talisman Ruben Neves leaves? What if John Ruddy, the side's keeper, stays their first-choice? There are some questions to be answered with them as well, despite the fact that they have top half potential. These late-season bouts could be just as important for Liverpool's opponents as they are for the side in red.
5. Early-December Importance:
The fixtures at the very end of 2018, and the first of 2019, were already covered, but the first three matches of the last month of the year all bring some intrigue as well. Liverpool open on the first of the month at home to Everton in the first installment of next season's Merseyside Derbies. They then travel to Burnley at midweek to take on last season's surprise side before having to travel to Bournemouth on the weekend. This stretch also, as noted previously, bleeds into a midweek Champions League match, then a home match against Manchester United. With two league away matches in a row, both venues that have tripped up Liverpool in previous seasons, coming right after what will surely be a heated derby match, this is a portion of the schedule that may not get the eyes drawn to it right away, but it deserves at least a little bit of acknowledgment.
Final Thoughts:
At first glance, I think one would say that this isn't a greatly troubling schedule, but upon deeper inspection I would say it, overall, is not soft by any means. You avoid some of the problems that plagued last season's schedule (i.e., playing Chelsea as the penultimate game of the season away) but you have a pair of tough back-to-back top six match-ups as well in the season. I think that as a whole, this is a tougher schedule than last season for the Reds, but it is nothing that cannot be managed by them as a complete side.
Follow me on Twitter @RMABTweets for more LFC coverage, including live-Tweeting of the matches, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Michigan basketball coverage!
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