Liverpool begin their Premier League campaign with a trip Arsenal on Sunday (4pm ko).
The Reds will travel to North London hoping to pounce on a depleted Arsenal team, but Jurgen Klopp has plenty of injury problems within his own squad.
Loris Karius, Lucas Leiva, Joe Gomez, Mamadou Sakho, are all set to miss the opening game through injury, whilst Marko Grujic and Daniel Sturridge remain major doubts despite being were spotted at training on Wednesday.
Dejan Lovren is also carrying a knock, but is expected to be fit to start, whilst James Milner is another whose fitness is in contention, with Klopp expected to give more information on their status in Friday’s press conference.
Sadio Mané, Gini Wijnaldum and Ragnar Klavan could all make their Premier League debuts for Liverpool this weekend after impressing over pre-season.
Arsenal – Opposition Watch
The Gunners need little introduction – being ever-present in the top 4 and having finished 2nd in the league last season – their highest league finish since the 2004-05 season.
Arsene Wenger has added Granit Xhaka and Rob Holding to his squad to help improve his chances at the title, but he is missing a number of key players for the start of the season.
Laurent Koscielny, Mesut Özil and Olivier Giroud have only just started training due to their commitments at the Euros and are out of the match, whilst Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista are both sidelined for an extended period because of knee and ankle injuries
That leaves Rob Holding and Calum Chambers as the only available centre-backs, with the Gunners hoping to conclude a deal for Shkordan Mustafi in the coming days.
But despite the absences, Arsenal will be coming into the game on a high, having won their previous two pre-season matches 8-0 and 3-2 against Viking FK and Manchester City respectively.
Before then, they also beat Mexican side Guadalajara 3-1 and the MLS All-Stars 2-1, but were held 1-1 by Lens.
Previous Meetings
Liverpool’s record away at the Emirates has been rather disappointing, only winning once since it was built ten years ago; a 2-0 victory back in August 2011.
The Reds’ have performed better on home turf against Arsene Wenger’s side, however, winning 5-1 two years ago, but have failed to overcome the Gunner since them.
Last time out, the teams played out a tight 3-3 contest at Anfield with Roberto Firmino grabbing a brace before Joe Allen scored late on to snatch a home draw.
The last game at the Emirates also saw the teams share the spoils, with Petr Cech and Simon Mignolet on terrific form in a 0-0 draw last August.
Squads
Arsenal (from): Cech, Ospina, Martinez; Debuchy, Holding, Gibbs, Monreal, Chambers, Bellerin, Koscielny; Ramsey, Cazorla, Wilshere, Xhaka, Özil, Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Elneny; Sanchez, Giroud, Walcott, Campbell, Iwobi.
Liverpool (from): Mignolet, Manninger; Clyne, Randall, Moreno, Lovren, Klavan, Matip, Wisdom, Alexander-Arnold; Can, Stewart, Henderson, Milner, Grujic, Wijnaldum; Lallana, Markovic, Coutinho, Ojo, Mane; Firmino, Ings, Sturridge, Benteke, Origi.
