The 2025 Community Shield will take centre stage as Crystal Palace and Liverpool lock horns at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
The fixture traditionally garners a massive audience worldwide and fans will be clamouring to access reliable hesgoal streams ahead of the kick-off.
Palace are bidding to follow up their success in last season’s FA Cup final by defeating Premier League champions Liverpool, but that will be easier said than done.
The Eagles upset the odds against Manchester City to win their first-ever major trophy and will be eager to demonstrate that the result was no fluke.
However, Palace have won just 15 of their previous 66 meetings with Liverpool in all competitions and will not find it easy to improve that record.
Palace’s summer transfer business has been hugely underwhelming, which will not help their cause against a club which has embarked on a major spending spree.
Liverpool broke their transfer record with the signing of Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen, and he will be keen to impress at Wembley.
Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez, Hugo Ekitike and Giorgi Mamardashvili have also been added to the squad, giving manager Arne Slot an embarrassment of riches.
Liverpool will be able to call upon Alisson and Virgil van Dijk this weekend after both players returned to training following a spell on the sidelines.
Slot is sweating on the fitness of Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley, but he has no other major injury concerns ahead of the game.
The Dutchman will hope Mohamed Salah can end his Wembley hoodoo. He has failed to register a goal or assist in any of his last seven appearances at the stadium.
Slot has expressed excitement about leading his team out at Wembley, and is hoping for a better result after losing the 2024/25 League Cup final against Newcastle United.
“I had my first taste of this place as a head coach last season, and I am really looking forward to being back out there with my team,” Slot said.
“For us, this is the ideal game to complete our preparations for the new season. As a head coach, you want three things at this time of year – to get some good work in on the training ground, competitive and challenging games and to steer clear of injuries.
“We know, of course, what we achieved last season, and it is important from our point of view that we maintain the standards we set during the past twelve months.”
Eddie Nketiah will not be involved for Palace, having suffered a hamstring injury in the second of his team’s friendly double-header against Augsburg last week.
Marc Guehi is expected to start the game, despite the speculation linking him with a summer move to Liverpool. Arsenal target Eberechi Eze will also be in the line-up.
Palace ended last season by winning the FA Cup, but have won just three of their six pre-season matches. By contrast, Liverpool have won five of their six outings.
Despite their indifferent results, manager Oliver Glasner is pleased with Palace’s preparations and is looking forward to facing Liverpool at Wembley.
“We’ve had a good summer but in football – and not just in football but in life, also – the past is gone,” he said. “We have great memories that will stay with us forever, but that won’t help us when the new season begins.
“Now is not the time to lie back and say, ‘great, we are the cup winners’. It’s about defining new goals for us and aim to have a better season than we did last season.”
The Reds have won the Community Shield on 16 previous occasions – a record which highlights the size of the task Palace face this weekend.
However, Glasner’s side showed they were no pushovers in the FA Cup final and Liverpool would be well advised not to underestimate them.
Potential starting line-ups
Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1): Henderson, Richards, Guehi, Lacroix, Munoz, Wharton, Kamada, Mitchell, Eze, Sarr, Mateta.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Alisson, Kerkez, Van Dijk, Konate, Frimpong, Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo, Ekitike.
