Liverpool’s predicted Community Shield XI vs Crystal Palace as three new signings start at Wembley

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Liverpool kick off their new season on Sunday with a first appearance in the Community Shield for three years.

The Reds beat Manchester City at the King Power Stadium in 2022 on an afternoon where Darwin Nunez sold supporters some dreams.

That Liverpool went on to have their worst season of the past 10 years is a reminder that Sunday’s result does not really matter too much.

Nevertheless, it is always good to win some silverware, and Crystal Palace will be desperate to end their first ever appearance in the curtain-raiser with the shield. Here’s the XI we think Arne Slot will select to stop them fulfilling that ambition.

Defence

Having flown home to Brazil from the pre-season tour in Asia, Alisson Becker missed Monday’s match against Athletic Bilbao. Alisson needs games before the season begins, so we think he’ll play this one.

In front of the goalkeeper there is currently little debate around who starts at centre-half for Liverpool.

Slot confirmed that Joe Gomez is still injured and will miss the Community Shield, meaning it is more than likely that Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate continue their Premier League-winning partnership.

Meanwhile, the full-back positions are interesting, with Liverpool having signed players at both left and right-back this summer.

Like Gomez, Conor Bradley is injured, meaning Jeremie Frimpong will make his official debut for Liverpool.

On the left, while Milos Kerkez will be pushing to start, we think Slot may keep old reliable Andy Robertson in for this one.

Midfield

Slot touched on his selection for the Liverpool midfield during Friday’s press conference when addressing whether Alexis Mac Allister will be ready to play.

“He trained with us a week now, played 45 minutes so that’s not a situation you would play him for 90 minutes,” said the Liverpool head coach. “Starting is possible but definitely not for 90 minutes.”

Although Slot left the door open for Mac Allister to start, we would be surprised if he did.

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Instead, the Argentine may be better with a cameo from the bench, with Dominik Szoboszlai starting next to Ryan Gravenberch.

Ahead of that impressive-looking duo, Florian Wirtz will surely start in his usual more attacking midfield role.

Attack

It remains to be seen whether Darwin Nunez’s Liverpool exit will be formalised before kick-off on Sunday. But, either way, the Uruguayan will not be available.

While Liverpool are still pushing to sign Alexander Isak, that severely limits Slot’s options in attack.

Rio Ngumoha has shone in pre-season, but it would be a big decision for the 16-year-old to play here. We don’t think he will.

Instead, it feels much more likely that Slot will stick with the three who played in the second friendly against Athletic on Monday, That would mean Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo on the wings, with Hugo Ekitike making his debut through the middle.