Can Liverpool rescue their season? The 2026 fixtures that will answer everything

Twelve points. That's the gap between Liverpool and Arsenal as the calendar flips to 2026. A chasm that would have seemed unthinkable back in August, when Arne Slot's side opened the defence of their title with that thrilling win over Bournemouth.

But football has a way of humbling even the champions. A season marked by tragedy, transition, and a brutal October-November run of nine defeats in twelve matches has left Liverpool clinging to fourth place, fighting to secure Champions League qualification rather than challenging for the crown they won so comfortably last May.

"Every single game we play, it is hard work," Slot admitted after the frustrating goalless draw with Leeds on New Year's Day. "It is two teams close to each other. I will keep pushing to get the players into a situation where we are more than 20 per cent, and then hopefully we can find a moment where we can fly through."

That moment hasn't arrived yet. But the calendar ahead offers both peril and possibility.

🗓️ Liverpool's 2026 fixture calendar

★ Key fixture | All times GMT/BST. Fixtures subject to change. Champions League knockout fixtures dependent on league phase finish. FA Cup fixtures dependent on results.

The weight they're carrying

You can't analyse Liverpool's 2026 without acknowledging what happened last summer. The passing of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre in that car accident in July cast a shadow over everything that followed. The number 20 shirt, retired. The tributes in the 20th minute of every match. The emotional scenes against Wolves just five days ago, when Jota's two sons walked out as mascots.

"It was difficult, but in a way also special and nice," Slot said after that 2-1 win. "The football world again showed how to behave in moments like this."

Virgil van Dijk put it more directly: "He's part of us, he's part of the club, he's part of our brotherhood."

How do you quantify the psychological toll of losing a teammate? You can't, really. But it's impossible to separate the human element from the on-pitch struggles. This is a squad still grieving, still processing, still trying to find joy in a game that took something from them.

The £450m question

Then there's the rebuild. Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid. Luis Díaz sold. Darwin Núñez moved on. In their place came Florian Wirtz (£100m+), Alexander Isak (£125m, breaking the British transfer record), Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, and Jeremie Frimpong.

On paper, it looked transformative. In practice? Wirtz needed 190 days and 23 appearances to score his first goal. Isak has managed just one Premier League strike since his deadline-day arrival. Mohamed Salah is currently at the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt.

The integration hasn't worked as planned. World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes, speaking to Sky Sports recently, captured it well: "When you are changing club, maybe you don't get the full support or the same position from the early beginning... But he is too good to fail."

Perhaps. But Liverpool needed Wirtz to hit the ground running. They needed Isak sharp from week one. They got neither.

What January reveals

Nine games in 31 days. That's the January schedule. It starts at Craven Cottage on Sunday before the trip that could define their season: Arsenal away on January 8.

Slot is under no illusions. "From open play, from where we are, when I look at Arsenal, I look at City and I look at us, it's fair that we are not above them," he admitted. "It wouldn't have been fair if we were above them for the way we have played."

The honesty is refreshing but also slightly alarming. This is a manager publicly acknowledging that his champions haven't been good enough. That the title race, for all intents and purposes, is already over.

So what's left? The FA Cup, for starters. Barnsley at home in the third round offers respite—though memories of the 3-0 Carabao Cup humiliation by Crystal Palace in October still sting. Slot made ten changes that night, lost Amara Nallo to a red card, and watched Ismaila Sarr—who has now scored seven times in nine games against Liverpool—tear his makeshift defence apart.

There will be no such rotation against Barnsley. Not this time.

The Marseille moment

Liverpool's Champions League position is actually the bright spot. Wins over Atlético Madrid and Inter Milan, combined with a convincing display at Frankfurt, have them well-placed in the league phase. Victory at Marseille on January 21 and home against Qarabag a week later should secure passage to the knockout rounds—potentially with a top-eight finish that bypasses the playoff round entirely.

It's worth remembering that Liverpool won at the San Siro in December. A 1-0 victory that suggested, for 90 minutes at least, that the champions could still compete at the highest level. That they could still be the team that dismantled everyone in front of them last season.

The European route to Budapest remains open. The Puskás Aréna awaits on May 30. And while nobody at Anfield is publicly discussing continental glory, privately there's recognition that if the league is gone, the Champions League becomes everything.

February's defining week

Manchester City at Anfield on February 8. Mark that one.

Slot's side lost at the Etihad earlier this season—a dismal display that accelerated their crisis. The return fixture offers redemption, revenge, and perhaps more importantly, a statement.

Three days later comes the trip to Sunderland. Régis Le Bris's side have been this season's great surprise, sitting eighth and playing with the fearlessness of a team with nothing to lose. They took a point from Anfield in December and will fancy their chances again at the Stadium of Light.

Then the Champions League playoffs (if required) sandwich a trip to Nottingham Forest. It's the kind of sequence that breaks squads—or makes them.

The Merseyside derby question

April 18. Goodison Park. The final Merseyside derby before Everton move to their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

These fixtures rarely follow form. They exist outside the normal logic of league position and expected outcomes. But for Liverpool, it comes at a brutal time: wedged between potential Champions League quarter-final legs, with the season's fate hanging in the balance.

Everton have struggled this season, but desperation makes them dangerous. And Goodison, in its farewell campaign, will be absolutely bouncing.

Where this ends

Aston Villa away on May 17 might be the fixture that decides fourth place. Then Chelsea at home, Brentford on the final day. If Liverpool can secure Champions League football—and that's the realistic ambition now—the season won't be considered a total failure.

But success? That requires something more. It requires Wirtz becoming the player Leverkusen fans watched torment defences for two years. It requires Isak staying fit and rediscovering his finishing. It requires Salah returning from AFCON and elevating a team that desperately needs him.

"Realistically, those two teams are quite far away from us and we should not look at those two at this moment in time," Slot said of Arsenal and City. "We have had our struggles."

He's right. They have. But struggles end. Seasons turn. And somewhere in this calendar—maybe at the Emirates in a week, maybe at Anfield against City next month, maybe on a warm evening in Budapest—Liverpool will discover whether they're still capable of being champions.

The fixtures are set. The path exists. Now it's about walking it.

All fixture times subject to broadcast selection changes. Champions League knockout fixtures dependent on qualification progression. FA Cup fixtures dependent on results.