Liverpool vs Leeds LIVE commentary: Kick-off time, team news and how to follow New Year’s Day clash

Liverpool will be hoping to start the new year the way they ended 2025 by continuing their impressive turnaround in form.

After a nightmare start, Arne Slot‘s side have now gone six Premier League games without defeat, winning their last three.

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It has seen the Reds launch themselves back up into the top four and now hunting down the leading pack in the title race.

To start 2026, they welcome Leeds to Anfield, with Daniel Farke‘s men also putting together a neat run of form over the festive period.

Unbeaten in five, they sit 16th in the table and have the chance to move nine points clear of the relegation zone with a shock win.

New Year, New Liverpool?

Liverpool do not boast an impressive record in their first game of the year, so they will be wanting to change that in 2026.

The Reds have started the year with a league win in just three of the last 11 years, drawing four and losing four of the other games.

It’s a record that will not breed confidence, but the fact that the match is at Anfield is certain to provide a boost.

They haven’t lost their first game of the year when it’s been at home on any of the last nine occasions, winning six and drawing three.

When it comes to form on New Year’s Day specifically, Liverpool have won five of their last six such Premier League games.

Their last defeat on January 1 came against Chelsea back in 2005.

As for Leeds, they have won just one of their last six league games on New Year’s Day, losing two and drawing three of the other five.

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• Liverpool have scored 19 goals in their last five Premier League matches against Leeds (W3 D1 L1), although they let a 2-0 lead slip to draw 3-3 at Elland Road in December, their highest scoring draw ever with the Whites.
• Leeds won 2-1 in their last away league game against Liverpool in October 2022. They’ve never won consecutive visits to the Reds in their league history.
• Leeds have won one of their last 16 away top-flight matches against the reigning champions (D5 L10), beating Arsenal 3-2 at Highbury back in May 2003 thanks to a late Mark Viduka winner.

Liverpool vs Leeds: Team news

Dominik Szoboszlai will return for Liverpool on New Year’s Day after serving his suspension against Wolves last time out.

Joe Gomez and Wataru Endo will remain sidelined, while Mohamed Salah is unavailable as he plays at AFCON for Egypt.

Alexander Isak is out long-term as he recovers from a fibula fracture.

As for Leeds, centre-back Joe Rodon will miss out injured.

Dan James and Sean Longstaff are also sidelined for this fixture.

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• Having failed to score or assist a goal in any of his first 15 Premier League appearances, Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz has now scored (1) or assisted (1) in his last two. He last registered a goal involvement in more consecutive league games in November/December last year (a run of six with Bayer Leverkusen).
• Cody Gakpo has scored in Liverpool’s first Premier League game of each of the last two calendar years, netting against Newcastle and Man Utd. The last Reds player to score in their first league game three years in a row was Ian Rush in 1985, 1986 and 1987.

Liverpool vs Leeds: What has been said?

Conor Bradley is hoping Liverpool can take their impressive form into the new year by continuing their winning streak against Leeds.

After four wins in a row in all competitions, Bradley said: “It feels like we’re in a really good moment at the minute…we’ve had some really good results recently, so we’ve just got to keep that up.

“We’ve got another tough game coming up now with Leeds. We’ve just got to keep trying to build this momentum and keep it going.

“I think we’ve had some really good results recently, but I think the performances can definitely still get better.

“That’s something we’ve got to strive to do, and hopefully we can do that in the upcoming games.”

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• Leeds United haven’t lost any of their last 10 league games played in January (W6 D4) since a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa in 2023 under Jesse Marsch. The only side in the top four tiers on a longer current unbeaten run in January is Arsenal (11 games).
• Liverpool have won their last three Premier League games, having won just two of their previous 10 beforehand (D2 L6).

Liverpool vs Leeds: talkSPORT coverage

This Premier League clash will take place on Thursday, January 1.

Kick-off at Anfield is scheduled for 5:30pm.

talkSPORT will have exclusive live coverage of the game, with commentary coming from Sam Matterface and Stuart Pearce.

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream. Listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

The game will be broadcast live on Sky Sports too.