The Christmas and New Year schedule is daunting for most Premier League clubs and it is no different for Liverpool this season as well. The Premier League leaders were to play Sunderland and Manchester City in less than 46 hours and a bid to try and delay the Sunderland match has not been fruitful.

Liverpool would be facing Manchester City at Anfield on New Year’s Eve at 5:30 PM; the match was actually moved to the new slot, possibly to help garner more viewers. The game against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light would begin at 3:00 PM on 2 January. The match would be played just 45 and a half hours after the City clash and the Merseyside club did contact the Premier League in hopes of changing the timing of the fixture.

Jurgen Klopp was perplexed at the decision to schedule matches this close to each other with little to no time for preparation. The former Borussia Dortmund manager was quoted by the Guardian earlier as saying:

“Forty-eight hours is an interesting idea but less than 48 hours I cannot believe,” said Klopp at the time. The Liverpool manager added: “Forty-eight hours between two games – how does this work? How do you prepare a team for this? Do you say: ‘Only 50% against City because we have Sunderland on Monday.’ It doesn’t sound like it is right.

“Everyone is asking: ‘Why is England not too successful in big tournaments?’ Ask what other big countries are doing at this time of year – they have their legs on the sofa and are watching English football.”

A tough battle on the hands for the Premier League leaders

The Reds have been a little lucky this season as the lack of European football has helped them rest and prepare better for their weekend clashes. The only time they have had to play midweek games is due to the EFL Cup but Klopp has mostly put out second string sides.

The FA Cup would be another distraction in January and Sadio Mane also would be leaving for international duty with Senegal. All this does not really work for the Reds and they do need more time to recover from their high pressing games.

The need for quality in the team and a good squad will be all the more important in the upcoming months and Liverpool have to be careful not to lose touch at the top of the table during these closely scheduled games.