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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Liverpool will discover their schedule as champions when the Premier League fixture list is released this morning.

Our writers have their say:

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One of the great myths of football is that the fixture list is random.



But the order in which they are played, and particularly the way a campaign begins for a club, can go a long way to shaping perceptions early on.

In the last nine years, Liverpool have either opened up against a London region team (West Ham at home, Arsenal, Chelsea and Watford away) or a promoted side (Norwich home and away, Leeds United at home, Fulham away, Ipswich Town away) so there's nothing to suggest there'll be a change from that.

Liverpool haven't started at Anfield since 2020 so their turn is due, and it would be no surprise if Leeds or Sunderland are in opposition.

It's inevitable the Reds will play one of their main rivals inside the opening six games, but no more than that and three winnable home games and the title defence can be up and running.

You have to go back to the summer of 2019 when Liverpool last started a Premier League season at home in front of their own fans.

Liverpool will be without Mohamed Salah as a result at a time when campaigns can be made or broken.

Avoid mid-season trips to the likes of the Etihad or Emirates, and those of a Reds persuasion can breathe a sigh of relief - even if it instead means a trickier start.

I'm a big believer that a kind early fixture list can be what's needed to fuel a Premier League title challenge.

That's the the theory.

And Liverpool don't need evidence of that, having experienced how a fast start can set you up for success after winning the title last season.

Seven victories from their opening eight games saw Liverpool set a pace that others simply couldn't live with and once the Reds went top of the table in November, they refused to relinquish their place at the top.

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And so a repeat of last year's early fixture list wouldn't hurt.

Ipswich Town away was a slightly tricky fixture for the Reds, but face somebody like that at home and life is much easier.

An early test against rivals can also be handy to set down a marker, though that too is preferable at home than the trip to Old Trafford that Liverpool were handed last season, even if they did win in empathic fashion.

Liverpool's position has changed next term and the Reds will be the team to beat from the outset.
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