Liverpool Face Crystal Palace in Community Shield Season-Opener
Sunday 10th August sees the traditional curtain-raiser to the new season in England as Premier League Champions Liverpool face FA Cup Winners Crystal Palace at Wembley in the Community Shield.
League Champions Liverpool have been busy in the transfer market over the summer, making a number of sales and purchases as Arne Slot revamps his squad ahead of a new campaign.
The game with Palace is given added spice with the Reds one of a number of suitors for the Eagles England centre-back Marc Guehi, who has been strongly linked with a £40m move to the Reds.
Palace have had a relatively quiet summer on the transfer front, with main speculation being about the futures of their England duo Gueho and Eberechi Eze, believed to be a target for Arsenal.
Recent Matches
May 2025 – Liverpool 1-1 Crystal Palace
Oct 2024 – Crystal Palace 0-1 Liverpool
Apr 2024 – Liverpool 0-1 Crystal Palace
Dec 2023 – Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool
Feb 2023 – Crystal Palace 0-0 Liverpool
Aug 2022 – Liverpool 1-1 Crystal Palace
While recent matches between the two have been even contests, the teams have met 66 times in total, Liverpool winning 37, Palace 15, with 14 matches finishing as a draw.
Team News
Liverpool
It has been all-change at Liverpool this pre-season. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jarrell Quansah, Caiominh Kelleher and Luis Diaz are all confirmed as leaving the club. Darwin Nunez, Harvey Elliott, Tyler Morton and Kostas Tsimikas could all join them over the coming weeks.
Coming in have been Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Georgi Mamardashvili, Hugo Ekitike and Milos Kerkez. The Reds have also been strongly linked with Newcastle striker Alexander Isak and Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi. Deals which could be sorted over the next few weeks or so.
As such, it will be interesting to see which team Arne Slot picks for this first game with his new-look Liverpool.
Team Prediction – Liverpool (4-3-3)
GK – Alisson Becker
DR – Jeremie Frimpong
DL – Milos Kerkez
DC – Virgil van Dijk (Captain)
DC – Ibrahima Konate
DMC – Ryan Gravenberch
MC – Dominik Szoboszlai
AMC – Florian Wirtz
AMR – Mo Salah
AML – Cody Gakpo
AC – Hugo Ekitike
Crystal Palace
There has been markedly less upheaval for Philip Glasner’s Palace this summer, but speculation surrounding their two best players, Marc Guehi and Eberechi Eze, will not have helped settle either player.
So far the Eagles have managed to keep hold of striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, who was linked with Manchester United. Ajax defender Borna Sosa has come into the club and is their only significant transfer in from last season.
After leading Palace to FA Cup success, Glasner’s team now can look forward to European competition, with an appeal to reinstate them back into the Europa League, from the Conference League, ongoing.
Team Prediction – Crystal Palace (3-4-3)
GK – Dean Henderson
DC – Daichi Kamada
DC – Marc Guehi
DC – Maxime Lacroix
DML – Borna Sosa
DMR – Daniel Munoz
MC – Adam Wharton
MC – Jefferson Lerma
AMLC – Eberechi Eze
AMRC – Ismaela Sarr
AC – Jean Philippe Mateta
Our Community Shield Tip
Correct Score – Liverpool 2-1 Crystal Palace – 8/1
Liverpool’s pre-season form has been a little inconsistent, but Arne Slot will have them ready for this game. Palace’s unsettled pre-season doesn’t bode well for them here but they will keep things tight. However, I expect Liverpool’s new stars Wirtz and Ekitike to play key roles in the Reds landing another piece of silverware here.
