Liverpool get their 2025/26 Premier League campaign up and running at home to Bournemouth on August 15.
Arne Slot’s Reds are looking to retain their crown from last season and back-to-back EPL crowns would be a first for the club if his new-look team can achieve their goal.
The Dutch coach has already spent £265m on new faces including a Premier League transfer record deal for Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen.
Jeremie Frimpong, Armin Pecsi, Milos Kerkez, Giorgi Mamardahvili and Hugo Ekitike have all arrived at Anfield amid sky-high expectations over their potential impact.
Wirtz, Frimpong, Kerkez and Ekitike are expected to make their league debut for the club against the Cherries but Slot still has some issues to solve.
His team showed defensive fragility to allow Crystal Palace to come back and snatch the FA Community Shield at Wembley Stadium last weekend.
Ahead of the big kick off at Anfield, The Sporting News takes a look at three key questions Slot must fix in his squad.
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Kerkez to fill Robertson role in Bournemouth reunion
Hungary international Kerkez was highlighted as an option by Slot before the end of last season after a superb second campaign at Bournemouth.
He was ever-present for Bournemouth in 2024/25, featuring in all 38 league games, with two goals scored. His rampaging runs from left-back were a constant feature of Andoni Iraola’s team and he finished the campaign as No.2 on the Premier League crosses into the penalty area list.
However, those bursts forward will need to stay balanced against defensive responsibility, with the left-sided partnership of Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson now changing.
The pair have worked in tandem for years, but Kerkez is future-proofing Slot’s team over Robertson’s engine slowing down, and he has to build that link with Van Dijk.
Ismaila Sarr slipped into the gap between Kerkez and Van Dijk to equalise for Palace, and Robertson replaced the former late on, but did not take a penalty in the shootout.
Expect Robertson to be used as a ‘closer’ in many games in which Kerkez starts in the coming months as Slot’s best option to ease the transition.
Solve Wirtz positional conundrum
Wirtz will add tricks and flicks to the Liverpool on the back of registering 16 goals and 13 assists in all competitions in his final campaign at Bayer Leverkusen.
Xabi Alonso primarily used him as a left-sided No.10, alongside Amine Adli or Nathan Tella, and in behind either Victor Boniface or Patrik Schick.
Slot deployed him as a central No.10 in the Community Shield, inside of Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo, just behind Ekitike.
That appears to be the plan again for Bournemouth, but Liverpool fans will be preparing for Slot to tweak his starting spot, and a move for Alexander Isak would force a major rethink.
Salah’s spot kick struggles
Salah ballooned his penalty over the bar to put Liverpool on the back foot in the shootout against Palace. That followed a similarly wayward miss in the Anfield friendly win over Athletic Club.
There is obviously no cause for alarm over Liverpool’s Egyptian King and he is the leading Premier League opening day goal scorer with nine.
No one will take penalty duties away from the 33-year-old and he scored 11 from 12 spot kicks under Slot last season. But, he needs a little reset from the spot, as his two most recent misses flew into the stratosphere.
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