With Liverpool and Arsenal having already contested the Community Shield curtain-raiser at Wembley Stadium last weekend, attentions now turn to the start of the Premier League campaign.
The Reds lost 5-4 on penalties against The Gunners after a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes of play. Second-half substitute Takumi Minamino equalised for Jürgen Klopp’s men after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Arsenal an early lead.
Now, an international ‘break’ is in place until players return to Melwood next week in preparation for the start of the Premier League.
As it happens, Liverpool’s first three league games have been moved for TV scheduling reasons. The price of being the champions, eh.
Klopp’s Reds start the season with a home fixture against newly-promoted Leeds United. That game will be the evening kick-off on Saturday, September 12th. Action gets underway at 17:30 (UK time) and what a game that would have been to have a packed Anfield for. Oh well, such is the situation with COVID-19, no-one really knows when we’ll see a full stadium at a football match again.
The following weekend, Liverpool travel to London where they will face Frank Lampard’s new-look Chelsea. The Blues have spent big this summer, bringing in former Liverpool target Timo Werner from RB Leipzig, Ben Chilwell from Leicester and Hakim Ziyech from Ajax. Thiago Silva also joined on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain while Lampard and co are still hoping to acquire the services of Bayer Leverkusen’s brilliant Kai Havertz.
The game at Chelsea is at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, September 20th at 16:30.
Liverpool will then play in the third round of the Carabao Cup either on the 22nd or 23rd of September (most likely the 23rd given The Reds’ Sunday fixture against Chelsea). Round two will not be played until 15th/16th September so Klopp and his backroom team will have to wait until then to find out Liverpool’s third-round opponents.
The final Premier League game of September sees Liverpool welcome Arsenal to Anfield for some Monday night football. The game is on September 28th and gets underway at 20:15. Arsenal will not be short on confidence having beaten Liverpool at the Emirates back in July and then following that with their Community Shield penalty shootout success at Wembley. Arsenal have not won at Anfield since 2012, however. Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla gave The Gunners a 2-0 win over Brendan Rodgers’ side that day.
The fourth round of the Carabao Cup is then scheduled to take place over 29th/30th of September. If either Arsenal or Liverpool have progressed that far in the competition, their fourth-round fixtures will surely have to be moved back to Thursday, October 1st at the earliest. This will, of course, have a knock-on effect on the following weekend’s league action. Liverpool are away to Aston Villa on the weekend of October 3rd. The Premier League fixtures for October have not been moved for TV scheduling yet so that trip to Villa Park could easily be moved to Sunday, October 4th or maybe even another Monday night game on the 5th.
There’s plenty of action to look forward to once this international break is over. It’s going to come thick and fast, Reds, so buckle up!
Liverpool’s September fixture summary:
- Leeds United (H) – Premier League – Saturday, September 12th @ 17:30
- Chelsea (A) – Premier League – Sunday, September 20th @ 16:30
- Third round (?) – Carabao Cup – Tuesday or Wednesday, September 22nd or 23rd
- Arsenal (H) – Premier League – Monday, September 28th @ 20:15
- Potential fourth round fixture (?) – Carabao Cup – Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, September 29th, 30th or October 1st
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