Last season Liverpool won six home matches. Six. Single-digit wins doesn't really qualify a home ground for fortress status, and 24 total points--less than Blackburn and only one more than Bolton, both of whom were relegated--speaks to just how poor the club were at Anfield. But since day one, Brendan Rodgers has pinpointed home form as critical to Liverpool's progress, asserting that he wants "to use the incredible support to make coming to Anfield the longest 90 minutes of an opponent's life. That's the idea."

The home opener against the defending champions is as good a time as any for that idea to take hold.