
FA Cup holders Crystal Palace will face off against Premier League champions Liverpool this
Sunday with the Community Shield at stake. It’s been a turbulent summer for Crystal Palace
since they were kicked out of the Europa League - while Arne Slot has strengthened his squad
with plenty of new faces.
Palace fans were unable to celebrate their historic FA Cup victory over Man City for long having
been thrown out of the Europa League. It has been all the talk in the build-up to the new
campaign, rather than what has been happening in the transfer window and pre-season. Generally, Palace’s form has been solid during the summer, despite losing a couple of friendlies against Bundesliga outfits, but their limited movement in the market is worrying. The whole not knowing what European competition they will be in may have restricted who they could entice to Selhurst Park - something their next opponents haven’t had to worry about at all.
Liverpool were largely unchallenged as they waltzed to the title last campaign - but Arne Slot
isn’t putting his feet up just yet. In fact, the Dutchman has been rather active in the window - and he may not be done just yet.
Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and Hugo Ekitike have been brought in for
substantial fees, while some of that has been recovered as Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez have
been shown the door. This will be a slightly new-look Liverpool side - but it’s one that most teams will be afraid to face - and Palace could be the first of many to suffer defeat against a powerful looking side.
Palace were one of few teams to take points from Liverpool at Anfield last season - but perhaps
with it being the last day of the season both sides were taking it a little easier than usual.
Liverpool did pinch all three points at Selhurst Park with a narrow 1-0 victory - which was only
their second win over the Eagles in their last five meetings. Liverpool have seemingly struggled against Palace in recent years - but Slot will be hoping his new signings can rectify that on Sunday.
Liverpool are short priced favourites (3/5 with
Betfred) to win inside 90 minutes, but Palace fans will be hoping the return to Wembley will inspire their squad - and the noise around the Europa League demotion can be put to one side for 90 minutes. However, they are 5/1 (Kwiff) for a reason - and this looks a difficult task after a stressful summer.
Palace may have won their last two visits to Wembley - but nothing lasts forever and this
Liverpool side looks rather terrifying on paper. The new signings look to have strengthened a
side that already dominated the Premier League last season, and with Palace failing to bring in
anyone to improve their squad, Liverpool’s short price may be justified. But instead of backing Liverpool at 11/20 with
Betano, there’s value elsewhere. Liverpool have largely run riot during their pre-season. In fact, all five matches have comfortably produced over 2.5 match goals - including seven goals scored themselves against Athletic Bilbao across two matches. These may not have been competitive fixtures, but Slot has clearly set a high expectation for his squad to deliver once more - and their frontline looks incredibly dangerous - and perhaps one of the best in world football.
Can Palace keep them quiet? It looks highly unlikely - and with that in mind, backing Liverpool
to win and over 2.5 match goals at 5/4 with
BetMGM
looks to be an attractive play. Expect Slot’s side to send out a statement to the Premier League ahead of next week’s curtain raiser. Good luck if you follow.
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