Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that the upcoming 2020-21 season will be "one of the most intense we have ever experienced."
Klopp's side will take on Arsenal in the Community Shield on Saturday at Wembley, a little more than a month after the 2019-20 Premier League season ended.
After the previous campaign was halted for three months due to the coronavirus pandemic, the off-season was shortened leading up to a campaign that will see extreme fixture congestion, particularly for teams like Liverpool who will be competing in Europe.
With Euro 2021 beginning on June 11, the Premier League will be forced to fit in a full season that begins on the weekend of September 12, a month later than usual.
Klopp's defending champions will see their squad depth tested in 2020-21, and the manager admitted that having a shortened period to prepare for the Gunners on Saturday was far from ideal.
"Would I want to play a proper game after two weeks’ preparation? No, but we knew [about] it for a while," Klopp said on Friday.
“It took a while until we got any schedule but since we’ve known it we’ve accepted it 100 per cent. We have had two weeks’ training and worked really hard.
“For us, like Arsenal, we prepare for a whole season — one of the most intense, probably, we have ever experienced in our lives because of the amount of games and the time we have for that. It’s as perfect as we can be and we will try everything to win the game and Arsenal will do the same.”
Liverpool's depth could be tested even further should Georginio Wijnaldum complete a rumoured move to Barcelona, where he would link up with his former national team boss Ronald Koeman. Klopp, though, insisted he was not concerned about the Dutchman potentially leaving Anfield.
"It's all between us and the player, these kind of things. It's all good at the moment, all fine. Gini played very well in pre-season and has obviously had a couple of good seasons for us. That's all I can say about that," he said.