Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp will have a good idea of the starting XI he wants to field against Fulham a month from now. That alone gives them an advantage over Manchester City.
Liverpool have only recently returned to pre-season training, but the new season begins in a month. Yes, exactly one month from now, the Reds will kick off the new season against Fulham at lunchtime.
Jürgen Klopp welcomed back Roberto Firmino on Tuesday, with other senior players such as Jordan Henderson and Joe Gomez having been there since the beginning (Monday).
Other players will be eased back into training after their summer international commitments throughout the week, in preparation for the pre-season tour to Asia.
With only four and a half weeks until the season opener against Fulham, there isn’t much time to make tactical changes or bring in multiple new signings.
That is why, with the exception of Sadio Mané, Liverpool are likely to start next season in the same formation as they finished the previous one.
Whether it is Diogo Jota or Darwin Nez who replaces Mané in the center, or even Firmino, who returned to pre-season training on Tuesday, the rest of the team will be similar to the one that began the Champions League final.
Injury permitting, Fabinho will almost certainly start in midfield, with Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcântara either side, though Harvey Elliott and others will be pushing to change that.
Ibrahima Konaté will hope to partner Virgil van Dijk at Craven Cottage, with Jol Matip and Joe Gomez also viable options for whom the next few weeks are crucial.
Aside from that, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold will be at full-back, and players like Fábio Carvalho and Kostas Tsimikas will get chances here and there throughout the season, but they don’t appear likely to start.
While this may appear to some to indicate a lack of activity in the transfer market, the reality is that Liverpool will benefit greatly from having a stable team. They didn’t need to strengthen their squad all that much this summer, and the carefully selected additions they did make will serve as good supplements.
Improving their first XI, on the other hand, was nearly impossible. Even if Jude Bellingham or Aurélien Tchouaméni had signed this summer, neither would have been able to unseat any of the three who started in Paris.
While Manchester City must adjust to playing alongside Erling Haaland — and there are still questions about how he will alter their playing style in the coming season — Liverpool knows exactly what they must do: pretty much the same thing that brought them so close to winning the quadruple last season.
With so little time between seasons, that can only be a significant advantage as Liverpool attempts to get off to a fast start.
