On Friday, Liverpool will host Championship side Preston North End at the AXA Training Centre in the club’s first unofficial match for Arne Slot.
The game will take place behind closed doors, as reported by journalist David Lynch, meaning it will not be shown on TV.
Preston, who are managed by ex-Liverpool academy player and coach Ryan Lowe, have formed a good relationship with the Reds over the last few years.
Last season, Liverpool used PNE’s Deepdale Stadium to host SV Darmstadt 98 in pre-season due to ongoing work at Anfield, and have also loaned players such as Sepp van den Berg and Calvin Ramsay to the Championship club in recent seasons.
Lowe explained earlier this week: “We’ve got the opportunity to go to a Premier League training ground on Friday and pit our wits against a top, top, top Premier League team and we’re privileged to do that.
“We’ve got today, tomorrow, and we’ll do some stuff at the training ground on Thursday and then play a game against a Premier League team and pit our wits against them.
“That’ll be good because we probably won’t have large parts of the ball. Again, it’s good for us out of possession and in certain games there’ll be loads of good stuff for in possession. We’re looking forward to it.”
After Liverpool’s friendly against Preston, they have just over a week before facing Spanish side Real Betis in Pittsburgh.
Games against Arsenal (Philadelphia) and Man United (South Carolina) make up the rest of the US pre-season tour, before a match against Sevilla at Anfield (August 11) will offer Slot the chance to greet the Anfield crowd for the first time.
Who will be involved?
With Liverpool having just four friendlies scheduled in front of supporters, Slot has seen fit to arrange this fixture to start implementing his philosophy into the squad.
While several of Slot’s key men, including Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, are not yet back, Mo Salah should be involved.
Among those joining him should be Wataru Endo, Harvey Elliott, Kostas Tsimikas and Curtis Jones.
Players who could be involved vs. Preston
Goalkeepers: Jaros, Kelleher, Pitaluga, Mrozek, Davies
Defenders: Quansah, Van den Berg, Phillips, Bradley, Tsimikas, Beck, Chambers, Robertson*
Midfielders: Elliott, Jones, Endo, Bajcetic, McConnell, Morton, Nyoni, Stephenson, Szoboszlai*
Forwards: Salah, Carvalho, Doak, Koumas, Blair, Danns, Gordon
* Doubt due to less time in training
