Liverpool enter the international break sitting quite nicely in fourth place in the Premier League table, having banked 17 points so far. They are behind Manchester City, Arsenal and surprise leaders Tottenham Hotspur, but lead the likes of Manchester United and Newcastle.
When the Premier League returns to action, the Reds will face Everton in a highly-anticipated Merseyside derby as they look to keep their positive streak running. Jurgen Klopp and his team will certainly be feeling confident they can secure at least a top four finish this season and their form is boding well, considering they have been deemed to have endured a tougher start to the season than others.
Using data collected by Opta for its Power Rankings on each club, scores have been assembled and each team has been put into order based on how tough their opening run has been. See below for where all 20 Premier League clubs sit on the scale of ‘harder’ to ‘easier’ opening 10 games.
1. Harder vs Easier
Below will be the list of clubs and their opening 10 games ranked on a scale from ‘harder’ to ‘easier’, with the ‘easiest’ run of fixtures last on the list
2. Sheffield United
Opening 10 matches: Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Man City, Everton, Spurs, Newcastle, West Ham, Fulham, Man Utd, Arsenal
3. Bournemouth
Opening 10 matches: West Ham, Liverpool, Spurs, Brentford, Chelsea, Brighton, Arsenal, Everton, Wolves, Burnley
4. Crystal Palace
Opening 10 matches: Sheffield Utd, Arsenal, Brentford, Wolves, Aston Villa, Fulham, Man Utd, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle, Spurs