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Liverpool’s starting lineup against Real Betis has been confirmed, with Mo Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai both starting.
The Reds have already played a behind-closed-doors game against Preston, but this is the first match of pre-season proper, as Liverpool take on Betis in Pittsburgh, USA.
Arne Slot is without several key players who are still on holiday, but this match should at least give us a chance to see if there will be any significant alterations to how Liverpool play.
As with most of Liverpool’s pre-season games, we expect there two different sides to play in either half, to ensure everyone is getting minutes into their legs.
To start with, Slot has gone for Caoimhin Kelleher in goal, behind a back four of Conor Bradley, Sepp van den Berg, Jarell Quansah and Kostas Tsimikas.
In midfield, Curtis Jones, Wataru Endo and Szoboszlai all start, while Harvey Elliott, Fabio Carvalho and Salah will likely form the attacking trio.
Liverpool: Kelleher; Bradley, Van den Berg, Quansah, Tsimikas; Jones, Endo, Szoboszlai; Salah, Carvalho, Elliott
Substitutes: Jaros, Phillips, Nallo, Bradley, Chambers, Beck, Bajcetic, Morton, Stephenson, Nyoni, Doak, Gordon, Koumas, Blair
We expect to watch the Reds in a 4-3-3 formation but there is a chance they line up in more of a 4-2-3-1 for this fixture, given the personnel available.
We will also likely see the central midfielders taking on more responsibility. Jones explained: “The centre-mids were always lads who were runners and more disciplined.
“The principles are the same, but I feel that now the centre-mids are going to be more the heart of the team.
“Mo is still going to get his goals, but in terms of our build-up, it’s how comfortable and calm we have to be and play more as a team.
“We’re not in a rush to attack, we want to have the ball and break teams down and that gives us a chance, if we give the ball away, we can go and press.”
The key news from a Real Betis perspective is that Adrian starts after leaving Liverpool earlier this summer, as does Nabil Fekir who nearly signed for the Reds in 2018.
You can follow all the action today and throughout pre-season with us by downloading the This is Anfield app for iPhone and Android for free.
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