Community Shield Preview: Liverpool vs Manchester City: 30th July; 18:00
2021/2022 EPL Champions Manchester City and the runner up Liverpool side go head-to-head on Saturday evening at the King Power Stadium as they battle for the first set of the 2022/2023 silverware.
Liverpool
Following a season they can look back on and certainly aim slightly higher for the next, Liverpool had a reasonable amount of pre-season fixtures to build-up the right match fitness going into the 2022/2023 season. The Reds started their Asia tour with an unexpected 4-0 defeat to Manchester United, but recovered with a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace and a 5-0 victory over RB Leipzig. However, they failed to convince their fans of their positive form after taking a slim 1-0 defeat to Red Bull Salzburg thanks so a first-half goal from the 19-year old Benjamin Šeško. Klopp has been fairly slow in the transfer window – understandably after making an £85m club record transfer of Darwin Núñez from Benfica, in addition to Calvin Ramsay and Fabio Carvalho. Although Darwin has bagged himself 4 goals against RB Leipzig, the Uruguayan has not looked the best and has large shoes to fill of Sadio Mane, who made his transfer to the Bavarians Bundesliga outfit and I believe is a pivotal blow to Klopp`s side. Overall, Liverpool`s pre-season is not a definite indication of the squad`s abilities and with the stakes being higher in the Community Shield I am certain that we will see a strong performance from the Reds, although there is some work to be done on the training grounds this week.
Manchester City