Arne Slot has named his team as Liverpool prepares to face Premier League rival Arsenal in Philadelphia in the penultimate friendly of the Reds’ tour of the United States.
The Reds of course battled with the Gunners in the race for the Premier League title last season, with both sides finishing behind Manchester City in the end. Although there are no points on the line this evening, it will be an opportunity for Arne Slot’s side to put something of a marker down ahead of the new season.
Liverpool began its US tour with a 1-0 win over Real Betis at the weekend. Dominik Szoboszlai scored the only goal of the game in Pittsburgh as a whole raft of the club’s youngsters were given their opportunity.
Slot remains without a number of his senior stars following a busy international summer, although he can call upon three more names this evening after his squad grew this week. Diogo Jota sat out the win over Betis having only arrived in the US hours before, but he’ll be in action this evening.
Ryan Gravenberch and Ibrahima Konate joined up with the group earlier this week after being involved with the Netherlands and France respectively at Euro 2024. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Alexis Mac Allister, Alisson Becker, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez will report back on Merseyside next week.
Looking ahead to tonight’s game, Slot has named his starting XI to take on the Gunners. Jota comes in for his first start of pre-season, while Curtis Jones is also in the starting XI despite picking up a knock against Betis at the weekend.
Konate and Gravenberch are named on the bench, with Wataru Endo also held back again after Liverpool rejected a bid from Marseille earlier this week.
Liverpool team vs Arsenal: Kelleher; Bradley, Quansah, Van den Berg, Tsimikas; Jones, Szoboszlai, Elliott; Salah, Jota, Carvalho.
Andy Robertson remains out of the side as he recovers from the injury he picked up during Euro 2024. The Scotland international has stayed with the squad out in the US, and will hope to make a speedy return as the new Premier League season approaches.
Liverpool will have just one more game Stateside after tonight’s encounter, with the Reds taking on old rival Manchester United on Saturday. They will then make their return to the UK, where they will face Sevilla in their final friendly at Anfield before kicking off the new season at Ipswich on August 17.
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