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Liverpool's game against Hull City that was originally scheduled to be on Saturday 18 April has been rearranged for Tuesday 28 April at 2.45PM EST/7.45PM BST. Tim Sherwood and his merry band of Aston Villa players will fill the gap on Sunday 19 April in the small business of the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
The midweek game against Hull will be Liverpool's game in hand over Manchester United and Manchester City in the race for the top four. For Hull, it's another difficult game in a horrendous run of league fixtures (five of the top seven lie in wait) for a team battling to remain in the division. It's still incredible to even mention Manuel Pellegrini's side in a possible tussle with Liverpool for Champions League qualification, but his side are the currently the closest to Brendan Rodgers' outfit at this stage. Liverpool could be in a final for the first time in the Rodgers era and could have taken maximum points on offer against Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion by the time the trip to Hull is Liverpool's most pressing concern.
Of course, Liverpool will need to be sitting on 60 points for the following to have any sort of relevance for loyal and passionate Reds everywhere but Manchester United could be buoyant or increasingly concerned by 28 April. A derby along with trips to Chelsea and Everton will have come and gone by that time. Manchester City's fixtures are relatively straightforward with home games against Aston Villa and West Ham following the derby. This fixture watching that will irk Liverpool supporters, but lagging behind rivals involves pushing ahead and hoping for increased misfortune elsewhere.
Arsenal's rescheduled game against West Bromwich Albion takes place in the final week of the season. Arsenal travel to Burnley and Chelsea before Liverpool play Hull, and Liverpool could use the game advantage to put some pressure on Arsène Wenger's side. A win against Burnley and a draw or loss against Chelsea could see Liverpool close to within three or four points with wins in April's remaining league games.
There's no guarantee that all these sides, including Liverpool, will avoid dropping points in April's remaining games. The weaknesses in these teams cannot be masked by winning streaks and unbeaten runs, and one or two sides could stumble before the end of the month. Whether those missteps will be enough for Liverpool to truly benefit from is uncertain, but the rearranged fixture against Hull could be an opportunity to re-enter the race for the top four with one month to go.
