The Premier League champions kick off the 2025/26 campaign with Liverpool hosting Bournemouth on Friday evening
By Sam McGuire
Big summer, big expectations
The Reds head into the season as title favourites for the first time in a long time. Arne Slot’s side coasted to title success last term, finishing 10 points clear despite failing to win a game in May.
Liverpool made just one signing last summer with Federico Chiesa joining from Juventus late on in the window. The Dutch tactician wanted to see what he had at his disposal and has no doubt worked closely with Richard Hughes, the club’s Sporting Director, to address what he considered to be weaknesses.
The result? The champions have spent over £200million to bring Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez to Anfield. More signings are imminent, too, if reports are to be believed.
There’s now an expectation that the Reds retain their title. The fact there could be five new faces in the starting XI won’t be taken into account or considered an acceptable reason if Liverpool fail to challenge for top spot.
How will this group of players handle that pressure?
Defensive worries
Liverpool have looked far from assured during their pre-season friendlies. The champions conceded two goals in games against Milan, Athletic Club and Crystal Palace. The Reds lost the Non-Penalty xG battle against the Eagles on Sunday at Wembley.
The new system leaves them a little exposed. What hasn’t helped matters for Slot is that the team has looked lightweight in that area of the pitch. No replacement has been signed following Jarell Quansah’s sale to Bayer Leverkusen while Joe Gomez was injured early on in the summer.
It has meant the Reds have been using random players there to fill in with Kostas Tsimikas, Andrew Robertson, Ryan Gravenberch and Trey Nyoni all getting minutes at centre-back. In truth, it is the perfect storm for the opposition. Liverpool are trying to strike a balance with their new style while being woefully short at the back, and teams are taking advantage.
All change for Bournemouth
The Cherries have been raided this summer. Kepa’s loan spell from Chelsea was not turned into a permanent deal, Dean Huijsen moved to Real Madrid, Milos Kerkez joined Liverpool and Illia Zabarnyi was snapped up by European champions Paris Saint-Germain. That means four of Andoni Iraola’s first choice back five from last term have departed.
So far, just two new faces have arrived. Djordje Petrovic signed from Chelsea and Adrien Truffert moved from Rennes. Iraola told the media that two centre-backs are needed but it is doubtful they’ll be in situ before the trip to Merseyside: “We are trying to sign centre-backs after we lost Dean [Huijsen] and Zabarnyi. I can’t talk about players that are not ours. We need two new centre-backs. It will be impossible to replace the ones that have left but the best centre-backs we can find, the club is working on it”.
History favours Liverpool
Bournemouth have won just two of their previous 20 clashes with Liverpool. The last draw between the two teams was during the 2016/17 campaign when the Cherries salvaged a point late on at Anfield.
In the 13 games since then, the Reds have claimed 12 wins, scoring 42 goals in the process.
This match-up is about as one-sided as they come. But, losing streaks do have to come to an end at some point.
Score prediction
We’re going to go with a 3-1 win for Liverpool. The Reds haven’t been too robust defensively but have the firepower to blitz Bournemouth at Anfield. Their final third quality should be enough to guarantee all three points in what could be a tricky opening fixture.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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