Monday, June 16, 2008

Liverpool Face Opening Day Trip To Sunderland

Liverpool will start their Premier League season away from Anfield for the fifth year in succession with a trip to Wearside to face Sunderland.

After Middlesbrough herald the start of the Anfield league season, the Reds’ second away fixture curiously is at Aston Villa, a reversal of last season’s opening two aways which saw victories at Villa Park and the Stadium of Light.

Liverpool entertain European champions Manchester United on September 13th with Rafa Benitez still looking for a first league win over his North-West rivals, with newly-promoted Stoke City due at Anfield a week later, before September ends with a trip across Stanley Park to face Everton at Goodison Park on September 27th.

The run of fixtures against regional rivals continues a week later with a trip to Manchester City before Wigan Athletic are at Anfield a fortnight later, due to an international break, on October 18.

Chelsea and new manager Luis Felipe Scolari host Liverpool on the last weekend of October before Portsmouth conclude the month with a midweek trip to Anfield on the 29th.

November sees away trips to Spurs on the 1st and Bolton on the 15th with home matches against West Brom (8th), Fulham (22nd) and West Ham (29th).

Ewood Park is the first port of call in the Reds’ December programme on the 6th before Nick Barmby returns to Anfield with newly-promoted Hull City on the 13th.

The festive programme produces a pre-Christmas cracker with Reds travelling to London to take on Arsenal five days before Christmas and Bolton Wanderers provide the Boxing Day opposition at Anfield with 2008 concluding at St James Park, Newcastle on the 28th December.

There is no scheduled New Years’ Day programme and the first league action of 2009 will take place at Stoke’s Britannia Stadium on January 10 before the return Merseyside derby at Anfield a week later.

The Reds face a midweek trip to the JJB Stadium to face Wigan on January 27th before Chelsea are at Anfield on the final day of the month.

February sees two long-distance away jaunts to Portsmouth (7th) and Middlesbrough (27th) which sandwich a home fixture with Manchester City (21st) whereas March’s only away game is Old Trafford (13th), Sunderland (4th) and Aston Villa (21st) being the Anfield visitors that month.

The crucial Spring run-in begins at Fulham on April 4 with Blackburn (11th) and Arsenal (18th) visiting Anfield before a trip to Hull City on April 25.

Newcastle visit Anfield on May 2nd, before the final two away matches at West Ham (9th) and West Brom (16th) before the final league fixture of the season, on the unseasonably late date of May 24th, against Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield.

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