It’s time for the annual season curtain-raiser, as Liverpool take on Manchester City in the FA Community Shield on Saturday at the King Power Stadium.
Liverpool knocked Manchester City out of the FA Cup at the semi-finals stages before beating Chelsea in the final on penalties to win the competition. Coincidentally, Pep Guardiola’s Sky Blues pipped the Reds to the Premier League title during a dramatic final day of the season in May, thereby, winning four league crowns in the last five seasons.
Both the clubs will be keen to pick up their first silverware of the new campaign and send a statement across the league.
Liverpool vs Manchester City—Team News
Liverpool
Liverpool faced a 0-1 defeat against RB Salzburg in the fourth game of their pre-season tour on Wednesday. Having lost 4-0 to arch-rivals Manchester United, they had bounced back strongly with consecutive wins over Crystal Palace and RB Leipzig respectively.
Jurgen Klopp had confirmed that Alisson Becker and Diogo Jota will miss out tomorrow and while the former should be back for the first game of the season, the Portuguese forward will be out for some time.
A settled back four comprising Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Robertson is expected to start with Adrian in goal.
Fabinho will screen the Reds’ defence and look to dictate the tempo of the game from his deeper midfield role. Thiago Alcantara adds a lot of value to the midfield, making him indispensable to Klopp. Jordan Henderson could get the nod ahead of Naby Keita to occupy the final midfield spot.
With Sadio Mane having swapped Liverpool for Bayern Munich, Mohamed Salah will need to shoulder the added responsibility of creating and scoring goals in equal measure. He will start on the right flank, with Luis Diaz expected on the other flank.
Despite scoring four goals coming as a substitute against RB Leipzig, new signing Darwin Nunez is expected to start on the bench. Roberto Firmino appears likely to spearhead the Reds’ attack.
Manchester City
As for Manchester City, Pep Guardiola could hand his four summer signings—Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Kalvin Phillips and Stefan Ortega—competitive debuts. The Sky Blues have won both of their pre-season friendlies in the United States, with a 2-1 win over Mexican side Club America prior to a 1-0 win over Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.
Aymeric Laporte, Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogan and John Stones were all absent from the tour of the US. And Laporte’s absence is set to continue till September with Pep confirming that the Spanish centre-back has undergone knee surgery. The rest of them could return to the squad on Saturday and get some valuable minutes ahead of the brand new Premier League season.
Ederson could start between the sticks, with the back four of Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake and Joao Cancelo in front of the custodian. Rodri is excellent at doing his job from the base of the midfield and should ideally start. Kevin de Bruyne and Bernardo Silva will be the creative outlets for City, helping the team to get a hold of the game from minute one.
Up front, new signing Erling Haaland looks nailed on to start. Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish will complete City’s attack and look to provide creativity, width and flair to trouble the Liverpool backline.
Liverpool vs Manchester City—Predicted Lineups
Liverpool Predicted Lineup (4-3-3)
Adrian; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson; Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara; Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Roberto Firmino
Manchester City Predicted Lineup (4-3-3)
Ederson; Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Joao Cancelo; Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva; Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez, Erling Haaland
Liverpool vs Manchester City—Key Players
Liverpool—Mohamed Salah
While all eyes will be on blockbuster signing Darwin Nunez, it is difficult to look past Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian has looked sharp in front of goal in the pre-season tour, netting twice in three games. There’s no doubting his quality and experience to make a real difference against the Cityzens.
Manchester City—Erling Haaland
It took only 11 minutes for Erling Haaland to make a mark on his debut against Bayern Munich last week. For the reputation he has earned in Europe, it makes sense why the Norwegian goal-machine could be decisive for Man City in the Community Shield.
Prediction: Liverpool 1-2 Manchester City