Sunday\u2019s Community Shield at Wembley presents a clear contrast in summer work. Crystal Palace enter the unofficial 2025\u201326 curtain-raiser having kept the bulk of the side that delivered in 2024\u201325. The Eagles made only a couple of additions and have kept their core intact. Palace\u2019s preseason included a 3-0 win at Crawley and a 1-0 victory over Millwall. Chadi Riad remains out of action after making a single Premier League appearance last season, and Cheick Doucour\u00e9 continues to be sidelined with a long-term knee issue. Eddie Nketiah is set to miss the start of the new season with a hamstring issue, but Jean-Philippe Mateta will lead the line. Adam Wharton and Marc Guehi have returned from setbacks and are ready to start. Palace have also managed to hold onto Eberechi Eze with less than a month remaining in the summer window. Crystal Palace predicted lineup vs. Liverpool (3-4-2-1): Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Mu\u00f1oz, Lerma, Wharton, Mitchell; Sarr, Eze; Mateta<\/p>\n
Liverpool arrive after a summer of heavy investment and wholesale change following title success. The Reds have recorded mixed preseason results, including a 5-0 win over Stoke, a 3-2 win over Athletic Club, a 4-1 win over Athletic Club, a 2-4 defeat to Milan and a 3-1 win at Yokohama F. Marinos. Defensive issues have been a theme in preseason. Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley are not fit for this weekend, and Liverpool have limited centre-back depth after the sale of Jarell Quansah. Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 are available, although Van Dijk missed Monday\u2019s doubleheader through illness. Alexis Mac Allister has barely featured in preseason and will likely start from the bench. Record signing Florian Wirtz is poised to start as Liverpool\u2019s No. 10. New arrivals Hugo Ekitik\u00e9, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong are expected to feature. Giorgi Mamardashvili could start ahead of Alisson, who left the preseason tour early. Liverpool predicted lineup vs. Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Mamardashvili; Frimpong, Konat\u00e9, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai; Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitik\u00e9<\/p>\n
Tactically, Palace remain strong from set plays and dangerous in transition. Liverpool\u2019s recruitment points to a more varied attacking profile, but their defensive frailties are a concern the Reds must address before the league campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Community Shield preview: Liverpool face Crystal Palace at Wembley; new signings meet retained core.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[465,175,172],"tags":[206,231,262],"class_list":["post-1439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crystal-palace","category-liverpool","category-epl","tag-florian-wirtz","tag-hugo-ekitike","tag-lineup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1442,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439\/revisions\/1442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}