Liverpool missed out on the Premier League title by a whisker last season but Jurgen Klopp’s men will be raring to go this time around.
And before the 2019-20 season kicks off, the German boss will be able to put his squad to test when Liverpool take on Manchester City in the FA Community Shield.
Liverpool might have managed to pick up the Champions League trophy last campaign but Man City were undisputable in the domestic circuit – winning the most coveted domestic treble.
Going into this match, there are a few rumours that Jurgen Klopp might not use brute force to take down Manchester City and could give a few of his youngsters some much-needed game time.
Liverpool news vs Man City:
The first and the biggest miss will obviously be Sadio Mane who had a busy summer with Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Mane was involved in the AFCON finals and shortly after that match, Jurgen Klopp had confirmed that he will report back for training only after the community shield.
“He is in good shape,” Klopp told the Liverpool’s official website.
“Obviously they had a celebration in Senegal and I’m happy about that because it showed that they respect the competition and saw the second place as a success, which is nice.
“He is now on holiday, not the longest one – he will be back on August 5, after the Manchester City game. That means he had two weeks. There is four or five days to prepare for Norwich, 10 days for Chelsea [in the UEFA Super Cup].”
This means that Xherdan Shaqiri will most likely be deployed on the left flank.
Naby Keita was troubled with an injury during the final stages of the previous season but he has fully recovered and should return back to the starting line up.
Nathaniel Clyne sustained a serious injury in pre-season which has ruled him out of the Community Shield game on Sunday.
Apart from these two players, there are no major absentees and Klopp’s first XI should look similar to what he had been naming last season.
Joe Gomez was the preferred partner to Virgil Van Dijk last season before the youngster got injured and with him back in the fold, we expect Joel Matip to fall back into the bench on Sunday.
Liverpool news: Reds’ predicted line up
