Crystal Palace vs Liverpool Prediction: Reds to collect 17th Community Shield

A lovely piece of silverware to add to the cabinet if you win it, a glorified pre-season friendly if you don’t; I can only be describing one thing here, the Community Shield, which, this year, will be contested between Premier League champions Liverpool and FA Cup winners Crystal Palace. 

Below are my Crystal Palace vs Liverpool predictions, complete with all the latest team news and match odds, ahead of Sunday's game at Wembley Stadium (15:00 BST, TNT Sports 1).

Team News

Palace could hand competitive debuts to summer signings Walter Benitez (PSV) and Borna Sosa (Ajax), although Dean Henderson and Tyrick Mitchell are likely to start in goal and at left wing-back, respectively, so the new pair may have to wait until the second half, at the earliest, for an opportunity to make their Eagles bows.

Eberechi Eze continues to be linked with a move to Arsenal, but the England international, who wrote himself into Palace folklore with his Wembley winner against Manchester City in the 2024/25 FA Cup final, has been a regular feature in pre-season and looks set to start on Sunday.

Football Odds

Palace played two friendlies against Augsburg last Saturday, clearly split between Oliver Glasner's favoured starting XI and the second string.

Should the Austrian stick with that line-up on Sunday, Henderson will be behind a back three of Chris Richards, Maxence Lacroix and Liverpool-linked Marc Guehi, with Mitchell and Daniel Munoz as wing-backs. In midfield, expect to see Daichi Kamada partner Adam Wharton, with Eze and Ismaila Sarr supporting Jean-Philippe Mateta in attack.

Jefferson Lerma, Eddie Nketiah and Will Hughes are likely to come off the bench at Wembley.

Alisson Becker has returned to team training after leaving Liverpool's tour of Japan early to fly back to Brazil for a personal matter. The Brazilian shot-stopper missed the Reds' two pre-season friendlies against Athletic Club on Monday, but could start on Sunday ahead of Georgia No. 1 Giorgi Mamardashvili, who agreed a move to Anfield last summer before remaining at Valencia for one more season.

Mamardashvili may not make his full debut this weekend, but fellow new arrivals Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz (both Bayer Leverkusen), Milos Kerkez (AFC Bournemouth) and Hugo Ekitike (Eintracht Frankfurt) are all in with a solid shout of starting against Palace.

Big-money signings Wirtz and Ekitike, in particular, are expected to begin Sunday's game, while Conor Bradley's unspecified injury should see Frimpong start. Kerkez, though, is battling Kostas Tsimikas and Andy Robertson for the left-back shirt.

Today's Football Fixtures

With Joe Gomez (Achilles) injured and Arne Slot yet to sign a new centre-back to replace Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), Virgil van Dijk - who missed Monday's matches due to illness - and Ibrahima Konate are shoo-ins to start in the middle of defence.

The positioning of Wirtz will dictate the make-up of Liverpool's midfield; should the German play as a No. 10, with Mohamed Salah on the right and Cody Gakpo on the left, behind Ekitike, then it will be a four-way battle in the middle of the park between Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones. Given Mac Allister's limited minutes in pre-season, I expect Gravenberch and Szoboszlai to win that battle, with the Argentine and Jones among the second-half substitutions.

At the time of writing, Darwin Nunez (Al-Hilal) looks set to join Luis Diaz (Bayern Munich) out the Anfield exit door, and with Newcastle United's Alexander Isak still on Tyneside amid a desire to move to Merseyside, 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha, who starred in summer friendlies against AC Milan, Yokohama F. Marinos and Athletic Club, could receive game time on Sunday.

Harvey Elliott, meanwhile, continues to be linked with a move to RB Leipzig, so it remains to be seen whether he graces the Wembley turf this weekend.

Crystal Palace vs Liverpool Odds

Glasner was unable to get the better of Slot last season, but after suffering a 1-0 defeat at Selhurst Park last October, courtesy of a ninth-minute strike from the late Diogo Jota, the Austrian saw his side end the campaign with a 1-1 draw at Anfield, although he was left frustrated after Sarr's ninth-minute opener was cancelled out in the 84th minute by Salah, with the Reds down to 10 men following a red card shown to Gravenberch.

The Eagles are 5/1 underdogs on Sunday, implying a 16.7% chance of success in regulation time, while the reigning Premier League champions are 3/5, or a 62.5% chance, to get the job done without the need for a penalty shootout.

The draw, which would send the tie straight to spot-kicks, is priced at 16/5, both teams to score at 4/5, and over 2.5 total goals at 8/11.

Liverpool dominate the anytime goalscorer market, with Salah (23/20), Ekitike (7/5), Wirtz (15/8) and Gakpo (2/1) four of the five Reds ahead of Palace striker Mateta (5/2).

Match Result & Both Teams to Score - Liverpool & Yes @ 11/5

Liverpool and Palace scored against each other on the 2024/25 Premier League's final day in May, which was just the second time in seven head-to-heads that BTTS-Yes had landed.

Both teams have scored in five of the last six Community Shields, including the most recent three, and with vulnerabilities present in both defences in pre-season, I think we could see an entertaining contest at Wembley.

Palace kept clean sheets in friendlies against Millwall (1-0) and Crawley Town (3-0) but then lost 4-3 to Mainz, before exchanging wins with Augsburg, winning 3-1 and losing 1-0.

Liverpool, meanwhile, failed to record a shutout in pre-season, beating Preston North End (3-1), Yokohama F. Marinos (3-1) and Athletic Club x2 (4-1, 3-2) and losing to AC Milan (2-4). Their defence has been disrupted, with Alisson, Konate, Van Dijk, Gomez and Bradley all missing games, while they have been integrating Mamardashvili, Frimpong and Kerkez into their back line.

Clearly, the Reds are not going to be at the top of their game in early August, and a dangerous Palace attack containing the pacey Sarr, tricky Eze and goal-hungry Mateta is going to be tough to deal with at Wembley on Sunday.

I can see both sides getting on the scoresheet in north-west London, but it's the Reds, bolstered by the additions of German superstar Wirtz and French striker Ekitike, who I expect to come out on top after 90 minutes and claim the shield for the 17th time in their history.

Anytime Goalscorer - Cody Gakpo (LIV) @ 2/1

Much of the talk this summer around Liverpool has been on Wirtz and Ekitike, with the two summer signings primed to join the reigning Premier League Golden Boot winner, Salah, in one of Europe's most exciting forward lines.

But amongst the chatter about those three, Gakpo has been quietly going about his business, netting four goals in as many pre-season friendlies.

The 26-year-old struck against Preston and Milan, and after blanking against Yokohama F. Marinos, he bagged a brace against Athletic Club at Anfield on Monday.

With Diaz now with Bayern in Bavaria, left-wing looks to be Gakpo's, for now at least.

Of course, Wirtz and Ekitike can both play there, as can Szoboszlai, but Gakpo is the best fit there out of Liverpool's current options, and his summer form should be rewarded with a start on Sunday.

The 2024/25 campaign was Gakpo's most productive yet in a Red shirt as he scored 18 goals in 49 appearances, although only two of his 10 league strikes came after January as he battled with a niggling injury.

Fully fit again, the Netherlands international is primed to make a positive start to the new season, and a first career goal against the Eagles, in his sixth game against the south London side, could be on the cards this weekend.

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