---
title: "How Will World Cup Impact the Start of the Season?"
canonical: "https://readliverpoolfc.com/articles/how-will-world-cup-impact-the-start-of-the-season/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Ste Hoare"
section: "Articles"
published: "2018-07-16T10:00:50Z"
modified: "2018-07-16T10:00:50Z"
---

# How Will World Cup Impact the Start of the Season?

A lot of chatter about players’ tiredness disappeared towards the end of last season. There were plenty of predictions mid-season, suggesting that Jurgen Klopp’s high-octane, pressing tactics would catch up with the players, that they would run out of steam. We know, of course, that this didn’t happen, with perhaps some of the individual performance levels even increasing in April and May.

However, it will be interesting to see how the World Cup in Russia impacts upon the start of the season, for both Liverpool and the other clubs fighting it out for the Premier League crown. At the time of writing, it is exactly one month until the [Premier League kicks off](https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/304318-liverpool-fc-premier-league-fixtures-2018-19-revealed) (10th August), yet we have still to play the two World Cup Semi Finals and Final.

**Four Reds in World Cup Semis**

![Clive Rose/Getty Images Sport](https://cdn.readeverything.co/readliverpoolfc/2018/07/996426924.jpg)

One could argue that Liverpool are in a very strong position in terms of players competing or, more importantly, not competing in Russia. The Reds sent seven players out to the World Cup – Mo Salah, Sadio Mané, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Roberto Firmino, Simon Mignolet, Jordan Henderson and Dejan Lovren. That’s quite a humble number when you consider that Manchester City sent a record 16 to Russia.

Anyway, before the Semi Finals kick off over the next couple of days, four Reds are left in Russia – Alexander-Arnold, Mignolet, Henderson and Lovren. This article is not going to speculate about who is going to reach the Final, but suffice to say that those Liverpool players will deserve a break when they get back from Russia and fans will understand if they are not 100% ready before the Premier League kick-off.

The key, however, is that none of that quartet, with all due respect, are completely crucial to Liverpool’s plans for the opening part of the season, especially with a manageable set of fixtures in August. Yes, Jordan Henderson is the captain and he has been wonderful in Russia, but [with Fabinho and Naby Keita on the books](https://readliverpoolfc.com/2018/07/05/fabinho-and-naby-keita-set-for-liverpool-debuts-at-chester/), Liverpool could weather the storm for a few weeks.

**City and Spurs Players Dominate England Squad**

Compare Liverpool’s surviving World Cup men to [that of Tottenham](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup_squads) player in the Semis: Hugo Loris, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Mousa Dembélé, Danny Rose, Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Kieran Trippier and Dele Alli. Not only have they more players left out there than Liverpool, it’s the nucleus of their entire team. Manchester City also have several of their team’s spine still left in Russia, with Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, John Stones, Benjamin Mendy, Kyle Walker and Fabian Delph making the Semi-Finals

![Clive Rose/Getty Images Sport](https://cdn.readeverything.co/readliverpoolfc/2018/07/503260638.jpg)

So what sort of impact will it have on them? The bookmakers think it will be very little. City are still odds-on favourites for the title, coming in at 8/13 with several major outlets. Liverpool have been made second-favourites at 11/2, although you could get better odds with the [newest bookmakers](https://www.freebets.com/bookmakers). Manchester United, with Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Ashley Young, Marcus Rashford, Phil Jones and Jesse Lingard in Russia, are best-priced at 7/1 with Bet365.

The point of all this is that some of our most important players – Salah, Mané and Firmino – are currently recuperating and, hopefully, getting into shape for the new season. Those that are still in Russia (apologies if England are out by the time you read this, but the point still stands) can be rested for the early part of the season. Tottenham, City and United do not seem to have that luxury. Winning the Premier League is going to take every small advantage. We may just have found one. **\**