Liverpool are set to navigate one of the most unusual starts to a Premier League season in history, facing a side managed by a new head coach in each of their first six top-flight fixtures — something that has never occurred before in the Premier League era, according to data from Opta.

New Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola, who joined from Bournemouth in June, finds himself in unfamiliar territory alongside those opponents. He too is starting fresh at Anfield, making this an exercise in mutual discovery across the opening weeks of the campaign.

Extra homework for the analysts

Iraola has been candid about the additional workload the fixture list creates. "We are facing a lot of new managers so there is an extra part of the job to do," he said. "Analysing how they played in previous clubs, certain situations they can use against us, things they have been doing."

He added that six pre-season matches were used to build the squad's fitness and readiness, and praised the role of his analysis team in pulling everything together.

Liverpool's analytical setup includes Jansen Moreno as head of first-team analysis, Tom Webber — who followed Iraola from Bournemouth — as tactical analyst, Joel Bonner covering post-match analysis, and Lewis Mahoney specialising in set pieces. First-team coaches Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper will also contribute to set-piece preparation alongside Mahoney.

How clubs decode a new manager

When a new head coach is in the opposing dugout, preparation becomes more complex. Analysts lean heavily on footage from that manager's previous clubs rather than placing too much weight on pre-season results. As one source familiar with top-level analysis explained: "There is more focus on the manager's football at his previous club or clubs and a reasoned look at how they might set up."

A current international manager described the process in layers: first establishing the opposition's formation and how it shifts across different game states, then drilling deeper into passing tendencies, ball progression, and risk-taking patterns.

Press conferences and interviews are also monitored closely — any hint from an opposing manager about his tactical thinking can inform last-minute preparation. When teamsheets are exchanged before kick-off, analysts may need to brief the manager quickly so any necessary adjustments can be made.

Ian Graham, Liverpool's former director of research, details in his book How To Win the Premier League that since 2016 all Premier League clubs have shared tracking data, giving analysts an additional layer of information when preparing for opponents.

The opponents Liverpool will face

Three of the six new managers Liverpool meet — Oliver Glasner of Nottingham Forest, Gary O'Neil of Ipswich, and Enzo Maresca of Manchester City — have previously come up against Liverpool in the Premier League with other clubs, providing some existing footage to draw upon.

The remaining three — Newcastle United's Matthias Jaissle, Fulham's Alvaro Arbeloa, and Bournemouth's Marco Rose — are all making their Premier League managerial debuts, though each has had pre-season fixtures at their new clubs to begin settling in.

Iraola's opening assignment takes him to St James' Park, where he faces Jaissle on Sunday. Jaissle has won his first match in charge at each of his three previous clubs — Liefring, Red Bull Salzburg, and Al-Ahli — and his Al-Ahli side were unbeaten at home throughout last season in the Saudi Pro League, winning their final 13 consecutive matches.

Iraola, however, arrives with momentum of his own. He is currently the Premier League's longest-running unbeaten manager, having gone 18 games without defeat at the end of last season with Bournemouth. He has also never lost any of his six Premier League meetings with Newcastle — winning three and drawing three.

"We still have one more week to Liverpool. I cannot show my cards at the moment," Jaissle told reporters ahead of the opening weekend.

As the season progresses, the element of surprise will naturally diminish as more footage accumulates. But for now, with nine new managers across the Premier League set to reveal their approaches this weekend, the opening fixtures promise a genuine tactical unknown.