I looked at the news recently and saw that Virgil van Dijk is still not fit. If van Dijk is not fit at the start of the competition, we will have a repeat of last year with Liverpool hopelessly out of shape. Manchester City will not lose many points so the championship could be decided before the winter.
I do not know what news you are looking at but they are wrong Virgil Van Dijk has played in friendly matches for Liverpool already. I think most of their players are back from injuries not sure what you mean that they will be out of shape? I think they had a injury to one of their defenders but it was not Virgil Van Dijk.