Liverpool kick off their Premier League campaign with a game against West Ham on Sunday at Anfield, the beginning of a highly anticipated season after Liverpool’s amazing transfer window which saw them acquire the services of Alisson, Shaqiri, Fabinho and Naby Keita.

With Liverpool being labelled favourites or second favourites to lift the trophy, the pressure is on for them to live up to the expectations and, hopefully, win the English top flight for the first time in 28 years.

Over the past few years, Liverpool faced problems with their goalkeeper, defence and squad depth, but now, they have all the things they need to compete for the title.

1. Our opponents:

Coming off a fantastic transfer season themselves, West Ham look a much stronger side than the one that finished 13th last season.

After the addition of Lukasz Fabianski, Felipe Anderson, Jack Wilshere and Lucas Perez to mention a few, the London side is not one that you would underestimate this season.

Former Liverpool player Andy Carrol is set to miss the game due to an ankle injury, and new signing Andrey Yarmolenko is also unlikely to feature due to a hip issue.

The Hammers have had a brilliant preseason, winning 5 of their 7 games and scoring 12 goals with top scorer Marko Arnautovic scoring 3 of the goals.

2. Team news:

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be out for the majority of this season due to ligament damage, while Joe Gomez is fit again after recovering from a minor issue.

Defenders Joel Matip, Dejan Lovren and Ragnar Klavan are all unlikely to be part of the squad to face West Ham, leaving Jurgen Klopp with a shortage of defenders. James Milner suffered a nasty head injury against Torino but he is expected to be available for selection.

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson, who both reached the semi-finals of the World Cup with England, are also available for selection, while Fabinho remains a doubt with an illness.

New signings Alisson Becker, Xherdan Shaqiri and Naby Keita are all likely to make their competitive debuts for Liverpool on Sunday.

3. Predicted lineup:



4. What the boss had to say:

On expectations:

My expectations are always high. We will try to reach the highest place. It is pretty normal that some point we would spent more money than other years. You have to create a squad which is strong enough and wide enough to cope with the Premier League. People ask if it is the best squad but I don’t think about it. It is about how we deliver and how we fight against the other Premier League teams.

On Ings:

Danny was a fantastic professional. We miss him already. A lot of people were still hoping yesterday that we could avoid the transfer. We have to move on. But he is going back to his home club. He is fully fit and in a good shape. Any more transfers? It is clear somethings will still happen.

On team news:

I might need to send players to scans in fancy dress! Fabinho is clear. He had a scan but the check was clear. Then he felt ill so we sent him home again and I haven’t seen him again. We will see. We will see about the players coming back from the World Cup. They are all in different shapes. Hendo has only been back for a couple of days, he won’t be back for the weekend. We have a few issues and we will think about taking risks. We will have a fantastic team on the pitch but a few players might not be involved.

On West Ham:

Manuel knows about football he is a good coach. If you go through the West Ham team it will be a completely different team. People will expect us to win, but there are 90 brutal minutes. It is easy not to underestimate them.

On Alisson:

Just be a goalkeeper, be yourself. He is a laid back person which helps. As a keeper you need to be calm. He has settled really quickly.

On Sturridge:

He is still here and played a good pre-season. He could do a lot of the sessions as well. I can’t remember him having a bad game in pre-season. I’ve said it 500 times: when Daniel is fit, nobody doubts Daniel. He is here and in a good shape.

On Manchester City:

We need more luck to close in on them. We need to be more consistent, more clinical, aggresive. We can improve a lot of things. It is nothing to do with City, we just have to take three points against them in those games. We need to see how the rest of the top six act. It is not just difficult for us. We need to be in the championship mode now until we don’t have air or oxygen. People think that if we are active in the window then we have to be champions of England – how can we say that. City haven’t lost any players and added Mahrez, they aren’t weaker. They have top quality. We are still Rocky Balboa and not Ivan Drago.

Full press conference:

5. Opta match facts:

Liverpool have won each of their last three league games against West Ham, scoring four goals in each of those victories; they’ve never scored 4+ goals in four consecutive top-flight games against a single opponent.

Against no other side have West Ham lost more top-flight games than against Liverpool (61, level with Everton).

West Ham have won only one of their last 45 top-flight visits to Anfield to face Liverpool (D12 L32), with that win coming in August 2015 (3-0).

Liverpool’s two opening weekend fixtures under Jurgen Klopp have produced a total of 13 goals – beating Arsenal 4-3 in 2016-17, before a 3-3 draw at Watford last term.

West Ham have lost their season opener 11 times in the Premier League, more than any other side.

This is only the third time West Ham have kicked off a Premier League campaign on a Sunday, but all occasions have been in the last four seasons. They beat Arsenal 2-0 in 2015-16 before losing 4-0 at Man Utd last season.

Liverpool have scored four goals in each of their last three Premier League clashes with West Ham – the only side to have scored 4+ against another in four straight games in the competition are Tottenham against Stoke.

Sadio Mane has been directly involved in four goals in his three Premier League appearances for Liverpool against West Ham (1 goal, 3 assists).

Mane has scored in each of Liverpool’s last two opening Premier League fixtures. Only five players have ever scored in 3+ consecutive opening weekends in the competition: Teddy Sheringham (4 between 1992-93 and 1995-96), Louis Saha (2001-02 to 2003-04), Thierry Henry (2001-02 to 2003-04), Alan Shearer (2002-03 to 2004-05) and David Silva (2013-14 to 2015-16).

The last Liverpool player to score in three consecutive opening top-flight fixtures – as Sadio Mane could do – was John Barnes between 1989-90 and 1991-92.

Mo Salah scored three and assisted another in his two appearances for Liverpool against West Ham last season.

New West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini has lost more Premier League games against Liverpool than he has vs any other opponent in the competition (P6 W2 D0 L4).

6. Training gallery:

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7. LFC Matchday Image:



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