Liverpool star a DOUBT for Community Shield; was 'expected' to start

Liverpool are set to be without one star for the Community Shield on Sunday. He was expected to start for the Reds.

Liverpool's season officially kicks off on Sunday as they take on Crystal Palace in the Community Shield. The Reds aim to pick up their second piece of silverware under Arne Slot, though admittedly one that's a distant last in the pecking order this season.

But it seems that Liverpool could be without a couple of players here, including one starter. Paul Joyce writes in The Times that both Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez are doubts for the Wembley clash.

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"Head coach Slot believes both Gomez and Bradley are doubts for Sunday’s Community Shield clash with Crystal Palace and the Premier League opener with Bournemouth," he writes.

"That represents a blow, in particular, for Bradley, who was expected to be given the opportunity to start the season ahead of new boy [Jeremie] Frimpong."

The latter part is key, of course. Bradley should have kicked off the campaign as a starting right-back but it appears Frimpong gets an immediate opportunity to stamp his own authority on the role.

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Liverpool vs Crystal Palace

It's a blow for both Bradley and Gomez. The pair have consistently battled injury problems in their careers, even with the former's being so short.

Frimpong will certainly see it as a chance, though. We fully expect him and Bradley to rotate over the course of the campaign but it'll be interesting to see who Slot lands on as his main right-back.

Only one is starting in the biggest fixtures, after all. We think Bradley might start with that spot given he's the known quantity in the squad, but Frimpong certainly has the ability to leapfrog him.

Perhaps he'll do that right away, too, with the Community Shield fixture.

But Slot's team for that one will be interesting in general. Liverpool have a plethora of new talents in the squad, all of whom arrived with dreams of starting.

Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, and Milos Kerkez will almost certainly get their competitive debuts alongside Frimpong on Sunday, for instance. Giorgi Mamardashvili likely has a lot of work to do before joining that group as starters and we would think Alisson Becker retains his place against Palace.

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