Just four games: How Liverpool’s fixture calendar will look in March after FA Cup exit | OneFootball

And then there were three for Liverpool…

The Q-word which had underscored the run-in to the 2021/22 season and begun to surface this time last year in Jurgen Klopp’s final campaign won’t crop up for some time when discussing Arne Slot’s Reds, who exited the FA Cup on Sunday at the hands of Plymouth Argyle.

An insipid performance against the team sitting bottom of the Championship means that one trophy has fallen by the wayside for the Merseysiders, but three more remain within their grasp, one of which could be secured in five weeks’ time.

In a peculiar anomaly of the fixture calendar, Liverpool will play five Premier League matches in the space of 15 days this month – beginning with the last-ever Goodison Park derby this Wednesday – and then they’ll have just four more games in the subsequent 34 days.

Liverpool fixtures in March

A combination of the FA Cup exit and the springtime international break means that the Reds have four fixtures in March, all of which will be crammed into a 13-day period within the first half of the month:

(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

With the first and last weekends of the month boxed off for the next two rounds of the FA Cup, Liverpool will have the best part of a full week to prepare for their Champions League round of 16 first leg, and will later go 16 days without a fixture until the Merseyside derby on 2 April.

By the time the Reds reconvene after the international break, both they and Arsenal will have nine Premier League matches remaining this season, and neither will have domestic cup duties after mid-March.

FA Cup exit was galling but at least gives Liverpool a chance to breathe

The final whistle had barely finished echoing at Home Park on Sunday when some LFC fans philosophically reflected that bowing out of one competition at least provides what could be a much-needed breather after a hectic and high-stakes February schedule.

That might be one silver lining to take from yesterday’s sobering result and abysmal performance, although we’d much rather have a fifth-round tie to anticipate on the opening weekend of March.

As it is, Liverpool now have a much clearer idea as to how next month’s fixture calendar will look, when a domestic trophy could be secured and a European one could (hopefully) become closer to our reach.