Now that the final international break of the year has passed, Liverpool will enter a spell in their season that sees them play 11 games in just 40 days. The first of these starting with a visit to high flying Watford and ending with Manchester City on the 3rd of January.
Not only do Liverpool have Manchester City to keep pace with, but they also have the task of qualifying from a tough Champions League group, with a visit to Paris next week.
The title is shaping up to be a three horse race in the main, which is why this run of fixtures is so vital to Liverpool. With the fixtures Liverpool have been given, it is vital that they play Manchester City in January while the two are still neck and neck. If Liverpool win all of there games and so do Manchester City then nobody can complain, because City are phenomenal. However, if Liverpool go to the Etihad 4,5 or 6 points behind City, then the pressure is on.
Liverpool’s run of festive fixtures go like this; They play all the big games at Anfield apart from PSG, however, have a run of away games that nobody would handpick.
Vicarage Road on Saturday is a must win game for the Reds, while Manchester city go to West Ham and Chelsea play Tottenham at Wembley.
The amount of points Liverpool gain from this period all depends of squad rotation. Klopp so far has rotated the squad perfectly so that his team don’t run out of legs during this period and beyond.
Liverpool’s home games in December are absolutely massive. Everton, Napoli, Manchester United, Newcastle and Arsenal all come to Anfield in the same month.
How Liverpool handle these games is key to what the results will be. Take Xherden Shaqiri for example, a man signed to be the 4th choice upfront, however, recently has shown how good his passing range is and breaking down of a defence. Its alsmost like Klopp signed him from Stoke to play these games.
Apart from Arsenal. Everyone of those teams will come to Anfield to try and score 1 goal and defend. Everton will tell you they have a new style of play, however its how they play every year. Xherden Shaqiri is perfect for this run of home fixtures in the position behind the front three, his movement and pace on the right offers Liverpool something different with Salah upfront.
The away games;
Liverpool’s run of away fixtures isn’t pleasant in the slightest. It begins at Vicarage road on Saturday, and then PSG, Burnley, Bournemouth, Wolves and Man City all follow.
A lot of results in the Premier League depend on when you play a certain team and whether the team have hit their stride in the season yet. For example, if Man City play Arsenal tomorrow instead of match-week 1 is it a different game? Almost certainly.
The one game you don’t want to be midweek is Burnley away and the one game you don’t want to play before Christmas is high flying Wolves, on a Friday night.
The approach Liverpool will have to take is completely different. I can see a scenario where Shaqiri plays almost every home game, and only one or two away fixtures. This just proves how attack minded Liverpool are going to be in the games. At Wolves, Bournemouth and Burnley, do you play Shaqiri in a 4 upfront?
Throughout the season so far, Klopp has already shown he likes Shaqiri at Anfield, when Liverpool can be more attacking. However, in the more preserved games he has picked more of a basic midfield with the likes of Wijnaldum, Keita and Milner. Still very attacking but more preserved. Games against Leicester, Crystal Palace, Spurs and Chelsea are examples for this. Where Liverpool have went toe to toe and almost grinned out results in a defensive manner.
After being caught by the Christmas and January period before, Klopp will have a plan already set out for how Liverpool are going to approach each match and handle the intensity each player goes through every week. A lot depends on the Champions League, as if Liverpool don’t win in Paris, they face a huge game against Napoli at Anfield, just before Man United.
