Jurgen Klopp’s side face Southampton in the Premier League this weekend after a 3-2 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
Fresh off the back of facing Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield this week, Liverpool will meet Napoli, Chelsea (twice), and Manchester City over their next five games, yet the biggest test of their credentials could come against Southampton on Saturday.
A look at the fixture list of last season shows why: Jurgen Klopp led his team to just one win in their six post-Champions League group matches.
The most humiliating of those results was a 4-1 defeat at Wembley against Tottenham Hotspur, although they did manage the reverse scoreline at West Ham United.
The four other results, however, were all 1-1 draws, coming against Burnley, Newcastle United, Chelsea, and Everton.
Nothing quite says ‘European hangover’ like a 1-1 draw – unable to threaten too much, unable to keep a clean sheet; four nothing games that saw Liverpool drop numerous points they’d have expected to take with them.
Those dropped points quickly left Liverpool well off the pace in the title race. So far behind, in fact, that they never looked even remotely like challenging.
And that’s why the game with Southampton is so important; Liverpool fully expect a win against a Danny Ings-less Saints side and their new-found squad depth has to show its impact on their fortunes.
Slip up, and it’s very easy to say that this is the same Liverpool with the same problems as last year, but win and they’ve immediately shown an improvement that could well make them title challengers.
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