Liverpool 2026-27 Premier League preview: Prediction, fixtures, squad, depth chart

Liverpool's 2025-26 Premier League campaign was the club's worst in a decade, a fifth-placed finish on 60 points that bore no resemblance to the title-winning form that had defined the previous season under Arne Slot.

The target for 2026-27 is significant recovery rather than a title repeat; with Champions League football secured on the final day and Andoni Iraola appointed as manager, the club are aiming for a sustained return to the top four and a collective reset after a season that exposed deep structural fragility.

The summer has been shaped by the end of Mohamed Salah's nine-year Anfield career, the simultaneous release of Ibrahima Konate, the free transfer of Andrew Robertson to Tottenham Hotspur, and the sacking of Slot after a campaign in which a squad assembled for roughly £450m across two summers finished 25 points adrift of champions Arsenal.

Here, Sports Mole previews Liverpool's 2026-27 Premier League season, covering fixtures, squad depth, the new manager's profile and a prediction for Iraola's first campaign at Anfield.

Liverpool 2026-27 Premier League fixtures

Liverpool open away at Newcastle United before hosting Nottingham Forest in gameweek two and visiting newly promoted Ipswich Town the following week; a home game against Fulham and a trip to Vitality Stadium to face Iraola's former club Bournemouth complete a first five gameweeks that offer genuine points opportunities alongside at least one away test on a hostile ground.

The autumn provides the sharpest early examination of Liverpool's top-four credentials, with Manchester City visiting Anfield on October 11 and the reigning champions Arsenal following on November 1; the same four-game block also includes a trip to Brentford and a home game against Brighton, creating a sequence that could define the club's early league position before the Bonfire Night international break.

Liverpool also compete in the Champions League group stage from September, meaning European fixtures will overlap with the busy October and December scheduling; Iraola managed Bournemouth through a season without European football, so 2026-27 will be the first time he has had to coordinate a top-flight league campaign with continental midweeks since the 2018-19 season with AEK Larnaca, and how he rotates across the December run of six league games in 28 days will be an early test of his squad management.

Liverpool summer 2026 transfer activity

The summer window has been shaped by the simultaneous need to address a defensive crisis and absorb the loss of a player who averaged 23 Premier League goals per season over nine years at the club; Fenway Sports Group have responded with a net outlay of around £88.8m, focused almost entirely on shoring up a centre-back department that lost both Konate and Robertson in a single window.

The headline arrival is Jeremy Jacquet, a 21-year-old French central defender signed for a reported £55m from Rennes, whose deal had been agreed in principle as far back as January 2026; the youngster is an aggressive, ball-playing defender built for high-press systems, and his arrival directly addresses the deficit left by Konate's release, though a knee complaint has him rated as doubtful ahead of gameweek one.

Ronald Araujo joins on a season-long loan from Barcelona to provide experienced cover in central defence alongside Virgil van Dijk, whose future at Anfield remains unresolved amid reported interest from Galatasaray; the departures of Salah, Robertson, Konate, and Rhys Williams represent a significant exit of collective experience, but the club retain the five major arrivals from summer 2025, including Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, whose combined contributions in 2026-27 are central to any recovery in league position.

Victor Munoz, signed for £34.5m from Osasuna, broadens the attacking options at left wing behind Wirtz; the 23-year-old Spaniard was reportedly a transfer target that Iraola pushed for as part of his arrival negotiations, and Munoz arrives with a reputation for directness and pressing intensity that should suit the new manager's system, though the window does not close until September 1 and several key players including Cody Gakpo and Alexis Mac Allister face persistent exit speculation that has not been resolved at time of writing.

Liverpool 2026-27 squad

Liverpool head into the new season with a squad of around 30 confirmed players across all positions, but the depth chart is significantly less comfortable than that number implies, with five members of the likely first-team group carrying injury concerns and several others the subject of exit speculation that remains unresolved before the September 1 transfer deadline.

Midfield is the squad's most reliable area: Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai form an international-class three capable of rotating roles across defensive, box-to-box and attacking positions, with Szoboszlai having delivered 13 goals and 12 assists in 2025-26 despite the collective underperformance around him; Harvey Elliott and Wataru Endo offer credible cover, and Trey Nyoni showed enough in limited appearances to suggest he can contribute in a reduced role.

Central defence is the most uncertain part of the squad: Jeremy Jacquet carries a knee complaint assessed as doubtful for the opener, Giovanni Leoni is still recovering from a cruciate ligament injury, and Van Dijk's future at the club is subject to persistent speculation linked to Galatasaray; the only other centre-backs Liverpool have going into August are Araujo and Joe Gomez, who himself is expected to be unavailable until late in the month with a muscular strain.

Conor Bradley's knee problem pushes his return to the end of the year at best, while Stefan Bajcetic and Vitezslav Jaros are also listed as doubtful; Hugo Ekitike's Achilles tendon injury, sustained against Paris Saint-Germain in April, will not resolve until early January 2027, removing the club's only senior back-up striker for the first half of the campaign, and the registered squad will not be confirmed until September's Premier League deadline passes.

Liverpool 2026-27 predicted starting XI

The opening-day lineup takes the shape of a 4-2-3-1 rather than the 4-3-3 that defined Iraola's time at Bournemouth; Gravenberch and Szoboszlai form a double pivot that gives the structure a disciplined defensive base while freeing Wirtz to operate in the number 10 role, the position in which he produced his most effective football for Bayer Leverkusen.

The back four selects itself from the available fit players: Frimpong starts at right-back with Bradley still sidelined, Kerkez locks down the left, and Araujo and Van Dijk form the central partnership from the options that are currently available, with the ongoing uncertainty over Van Dijk's future meaning this combination could yet change before the September 1 transfer deadline.

Ngumoha starts on the right wing ahead of Gakpo and Federico Chiesa, rewarded for his energy and directness across the Nashville and New York pre-season fixtures; Gakpo fills the left attacking slot with his combination of physicality and finishing in a channel-running role that suits what Iraola demands from a wide attacker, while Isak leads the line with a cleaner supply route into his feet than a flat midfield three provides.

Liverpool 2026-27 squad depth

Giorgi Mamardashvili offers top-level cover behind Alisson Becker and would start for the majority of Premier League clubs; his presence removes any anxiety about the goalkeeper position regardless of transfer speculation around Alisson.

Calvin Ramsay provides right-back cover behind Frimpong, though the Northern Ireland international Bradley is the clear first-choice deputy once his knee heals; Tsimikas covers Kerkez at left-back and has handled significant minutes across previous seasons.

Endo and Elliott are the primary midfield cover, with Endo capable of playing in a defensive role or even dropping into the back four as an emergency option; Nyoni and Bajcetic add younger depth, though Bajcetic's hamstring complaint makes his availability for the opening weeks uncertain.

The forward positions carry the sharpest concern: Gakpo and Chiesa provide wide cover behind Wirtz and are capable of playing on either flank, with Ngumoha an emerging option on both wings who may push for regular involvement as the season progresses; in the striker position, with Ekitike not expected until January, Gakpo is the only viable short-term substitute for Isak through the central channel, a thin arrangement that gives Iraola limited tactical flexibility from the front.

Andoni Iraola: Manager profile

Andoni Iraola was appointed Liverpool manager in June, replacing Slot after the club terminated the Dutchman's contract following a fifth-placed Premier League finish; the 44-year-old Spaniard arrives from Bournemouth, where three successive seasons on the south coast had produced finishes of 12th, ninth and sixth, the last of which represented the club's highest Premier League position in their history.

His 2023-24 debut at Bournemouth began disastrously, with the club winless across the first nine league games before Iraola's system clicked and they accumulated 22 points from the next nine; that ability to stabilise a squad under pressure and build belief through a consistent coaching method, rather than a reactive change of approach, became the defining characteristic of his tenure, and he replicated the improvement in each of the following two seasons before Liverpool came calling.

At Bournemouth, Iraola operated an aggressive 4-3-3 with a clear high press and a short-passing build-up from the goalkeeper; the system placed significant physical demands on all 11 players and required the front three to coordinate pressing triggers that started from set positions rather than improvised reactions, a level of tactical organisation that Liverpool's squad, though far more talented, will need time to internalise before it functions at the intensity he requires.

In press conferences, Iraola is measured, precise and resistant to sensational framing; he built genuine loyalty among Bournemouth's players by communicating clearly, defending his squad in public and maintaining consistent standards across difficult periods. His contract length at Liverpool has not been publicly confirmed, but reports from the time of his appointment described it as a multi-year arrangement.

Alexander Isak: Liverpool's star player

Isak joined Liverpool in 2025 for £125m from Newcastle United, where he had scored 54 Premier League goals in 86 appearances across three seasons; the 26-year-old Swede became the most expensive signing in Premier League history and was immediately cast as the focal point of a post-Salah attacking era at Anfield.

His debut campaign was disrupted by fitness problems throughout, limiting him to 14 Premier League appearances, eight starts and 703 minutes, in which he scored three goals and registered one assist; a return of three PL goals across a season in which the club spent £125m on him is not the form Liverpool needed, but his Newcastle record of 27 goals across all competitions in his final year at St James' Park provides context for what a healthy Isak can produce.

At 192cm, Isak is a technically refined centre-forward who holds the ball under pressure, runs intelligently in behind and converts at a high rate when given proper service; his contract runs to June 2031, and the club have committed to building Iraola's attack around him, with Wirtz and Szoboszlai among the creative players best placed to supply the incisive through balls his movement demands.

The most accurate framing of the 2025-26 numbers is that they describe a player who spent much of his debut season adjusting to a system and club that were themselves in turmoil; with a decent pre-season behind him and a manager whose system suits his profile, the form that made him one of Europe's most feared forwards is expected to arrive consistently for the first time at Anfield.

Florian Wirtz: Liverpool's one to watch

Wirtz was signed from Bayer Leverkusen in June 2025 for £116m and arrived as one of the most expensive and highly anticipated Premier League debuts in recent memory; a year on, the 23-year-old German is yet to fully deliver on that promise, though, posting five goals and three assists across 33 Premier League appearances in 2025-26.

Operating primarily from the left flank but with the freedom to drift inside to a number 10 position, Wirtz brings the ability to receive in tight spaces and play forward at pace, a set of qualities that were on clear display during his World Cup campaign with Germany before he returned to pre-season in good physical condition; two goals in the pre-season games against Leeds and Monaco offered Iraola early confirmation that the German's sharpness from last season has not been disrupted by the summer.

Iraola's high-press system at Bournemouth required wide attackers to press aggressively from coordinated positions rather than drifting into the game when in possession; Wirtz completed similar pressing duties at Leverkusen, where the winning Bundesliga side in 2023-24 set records for pressing intensity, and his work rate without the ball gives him an advantage over more possession-oriented attackers in adapting to what Iraola will ask.

There is a case that Wirtz was Liverpool's most consistent performer in 2025-26, and with Isak likely to build into top form gradually after a disrupted debut season, the German's movement into the half-space and connection with Szoboszlai in central areas may be the most productive attacking pattern available to Iraola in the opening weeks of the campaign.

Liverpool strengths and weaknesses

Liverpool pre-season results

Liverpool played six pre-season games in total, recording three wins, one draw and two defeats; the US tour in late July produced a 4-2 win over Sunderland in Nashville and a 1-0 victory over Wrexham in New York before a sobering 4-2 defeat to Leeds in Chicago on August 2 brought the American leg of preparation to an uncomfortable close.

The sharpest warning of the pre-season came at Anfield on August 9, when Monaco won 3-2 in a game that exposed the same defensive fragility that cost Liverpool across 2025-26; a behind-closed-doors 0-0 draw against Como at the AXA Training Centre on August 16 was followed the same evening by a more positive 2-0 win over the Italian side at Anfield, with Gakpo and Jacquet both scoring to give Iraola his first Anfield victory, albeit in a friendly environment.

Bradley was absent throughout the pre-season programme due to his knee injury, with Frimpong filling the right-back position in every game; Ekitike also missed all six fixtures, confirming that Isak will carry the striking burden alone when the competitive season begins, and the wantaway Curtis Jones featured only briefly before his hip complaint worsened during the camp.

Liverpool 2026-27 season prediction

The opening six-game run contains three winnable fixtures in Ipswich, Sunderland and Fulham alongside the test at St. James' Park, and Liverpool should be capable of building early momentum if Iraola's system beds in quickly; the autumn double-header against Man City and Arsenal at Anfield will be a sharper test of whether the squad has the defensive organisation to compete against the division's two most likely champions.

Champions League group-stage football adds midweek European fixtures from September, and the six-game December run presents a significant squad-management challenge for a manager who has never previously had to balance top-flight league demands against continental competition; how Liverpool navigate the congested period from December to January, when Ekitike's return from his Achilles injury should provide some attacking reinforcement, may prove the clearest indicator of Iraola's capacity to compete at this level.

The single variable that matters most is Isak's fitness; his 2025-26 return of three Premier League goals in 703 minutes does not reflect his scoring capacity, but it does reflect the reality that he spent much of his debut season unavailable, and Salah's absence now removes the safety net that softened the impact of those missed games, leaving Liverpool with no comparable Plan B in the striker position until Ekitike is ready.

A top-four finish is the realistic ceiling for a club in managerial transition with a defensive injury list that will not clear until late September, and a deep Champions League run in tow would represent genuine progress and establish Iraola's tenure on a strong footing heading into 2027-28.