Six of Liverpool’s Seven Opening Fixtures Moved

Every year, the Premier League releases its fixture list in mid-June to much fanfare. And every year the FA, in their extremely finite wisdom looks at the randomly (wink, wink) generated schedule, and decides to scramble it all up to maximize them dollar dollar bills (or pounds).

As a club with a large, widespread, and devoted fanbase, Liverpool’s matches are always likely to be moved from the standard 3 PM Saturday matches (which also happen to not be shown to British audiences). This year is no exception, with every Liverpool match of the opening seven, except for the September 22nd home match against Southampton, being moved. The changes are as follows:

• West Ham (H), now Sunday, August 12th, 1:30 PM BST
• Crystal Palace (A), now Monday, August 20th, 8 PM BST
• Brighton & Hove Albion (H), now Saturday, August 25th, 5:30 BST
• Leicester City (A), now Saturday, September 1st, 12:30 BST
• Tottenham Hotspur (A), now Saturday, September 15th, 12:30 BST
• Chelsea (A), now Saturday, September 29th, 5:30 BST

On the whole, these changes seem to be not great. Liverpool have been handed three early kickoffs—a bit of a gegenpressing Achilles heel in recent seasons. The early showdown against Spurs, immediately following an international break, is especially a point of concern. And a night match at Selhurst Park should be...fun.

Hopefully Klopp & Co. can actually figure out an answer to these early kickoffs (as well as whatever voodoo Palace do), and get the season off on the right foot. Or Mo’s left foot.