Liverpool looking to defeat Palace and take their player

The champions of England, Liverpool, and FA Cup winners Crystal Palace will, at Wembley, practically open the new season of elite football in England. While Liverpool’s league title was expected by many, the Eagles’ triumph in the cup — defeating Manchester City in the final — was a huge shock. Now, Oliver Glasner’s men will try to surprise the heavily favored Reds as well. In the run-up to the match, most talk has been about transfers, which are in full swing with about a week to go before the season kicks off. The news is that Liverpool have officially sold striker Darwin Nunez to Al Hilal for 53 million euros. The Uruguayan has signed a three-year contract and, during his time at Anfield, scored 40 goals in 143 appearances.

Nunez has joined Al Hilal’s training camp in Germany, which effectively gives Liverpool the green light to pursue Newcastle’s Alexander Isak. However, ahead of the Wembley clash, the big transfer rumor is about a center-back — and not just any, but from today’s opponents, Crystal Palace. The player in question is England international Marc Guehi. It’s no surprise that both managers, Oliver Glasner and Arne Slot, were asked about the possibility of Guehi moving to the English champions.

“Marc and I share the same fate. I can’t speak on this — you have to ask Marc. In the end, it always comes down to the player’s decision. Marc will decide his future. Of course, we all want him to sign a new contract, but the decision is his. We want to keep this squad together because they’ve done a good job. I’m not sure how often that happens at Palace. You never know what can happen in this crazy transfer window,” said Glasner.

You are not going anywhere

On the other side, Liverpool have sold Jarell Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen, while Joe Gomez is out with a minor injury. It leaves the impression there’s room for a new center-back.

“Ryan Gravenberch, Andy Robertson, and Wataru Endo can also play at center-back. You’re forgetting Gomez — unfortunately he’s injured, but he’ll be back soon. We have plenty of options who can fill that role. And there’s always that same, boring answer about whether we can bring in new players or not. I’m happy with what we have because they can play in different positions” said Liverpool manager Arne Slot.

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Regarding the Community Shield itself, an interesting statistic stands out: only one of the last 14 winners has gone on to lift the Premier League title that season. In fact, those who lost the final have more often ended up as league champions — five times, all of them Manchester City, who have dominated the English league over the past decade. In the Premier League era, 8 out of 33 Community Shield winners have gone on to win the league. For Liverpool fans, the game will also be a chance to see several new signings in action — most notably Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Miloš Kerkez, and Jeremie Frimpong. After preseason matches against Preston, Stoke, Milan, Yokohama, and Athletic Bilbao, Crystal Palace will be Liverpool’s first Premier League opponent, and Slot believes that’s ideal.

“It’s always nice to start the season with a chance to win something. Usually, you have to play a lot of games to win a trophy, but here it’s just one match. Unfortunately, it’s against a very good Crystal Palace side, which is a tough opponent for us. In our last match of the season, it ended 1–1. They showed in the cup final and semi-final how hard they are to beat in one-off games. Most of their squad is still together, so we know how tough it will be,” said the Dutch coach.

His counterpart, Oliver Glasner, is happy to have his team in the underdog role.

“Of course, Liverpool are always favorites when they play Crystal Palace. You have the champions playing against a team that finished 12th, and judging by how they’ve acted in the transfer window and the signings they’ve made, they’re favorites again. But Manchester City were favorites too, and we beat them — so we have the same chance now, and that’s how we’ll approach the game. The best thing about playing in this atmosphere, even with 40,000 fans behind the opponent, is that you’re responsible for playing to win — and that’s exactly what we’ll do” Glasner concluded.