{"id":66493,"date":"2025-08-14T13:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T13:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/66493\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T13:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T13:40:09","slug":"liverpool-fc-lineup-options-vs-bournemouth-same-xi-as-community-shield-liverpool-fc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/66493\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool FC lineup options vs. Bournemouth – same XI as Community Shield? – Liverpool FC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool\u2019s first starting lineup of the new Premier League<\/a> season against Bournemouth<\/a> largely picks itself, but will Alexis Mac Allister<\/a> play?<\/p>\n

The Reds\u2019 title defence is almost upon us, with Arne Slot<\/a> expected to hand league debuts to Jeremie Frimpong<\/a>, Milos Kerkez<\/a>, Florian Wirtz<\/a> and Hugo Ekitike<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Reds were beaten by Crystal Palace<\/a> in the Community Shield last weekend, but how different will their XI be at home to Bournemouth<\/a> on Friday night? <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how we think Liverpool could line up.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Team News<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what Slot revealed in his press conference and who will miss out:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s XI vs. Bournemouth<\/p>\n

\"LIVERPOOL,<\/p>\n

With Bradley and Gravenberch the only regulars missing, Slot doesn\u2019t have many selection headaches.<\/p>\n

Neither featured against Palace at Wembley, so there is every chance that Liverpool\u2019s starting lineup will be unchanged.<\/p>\n

That would mean a start for new full-back pair Frimpong and Kerkez, with the latter preferred to Andy Robertson<\/a> at left-back.<\/p>\n

Curtis Jones<\/a> and Dominik Szoboszlai<\/a> were used in a double pivot without Gravenberch available, and they may continue there at Anfield.<\/p>\n

The attacking quartet picks itself, with Mohamed Salah<\/a> and Cody Gakpo<\/a> taking up wide roles, Wirtz as No. 10 and Ekitike leading the line.<\/p>\n

Here are Slot\u2019s likely decisions:<\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s XI unchanged from Community Shield
\nKerkez over Robertson at left-back \u2013 a sign of things to come?
\nJones and Szoboszlai in a double pivot; Ekitike to lead the line<\/p>\n

This is how Liverpool would line up:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alisson<\/a>; Frimpong, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Jones, Szoboszlai; Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitike<\/p>\n

The only possible question mark lingering in Slot\u2019s mind is whether to start Mac Allister in place of Jones.<\/p>\n

The Argentine is one of Liverpool\u2019s most important players, when fit, but he only returned from injury late last month.<\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t be a shock to see Mac Allister start, but Slot may err on the side of caution, using Jones instead, due to his superior match fitness.<\/p>\n

Some may be tempted to go with the experience to Robertson at left-back, but it is already clear who the first-choice is out of him and Kerkez.<\/p>\n

Federico Chiesa<\/a> doesn\u2019t merit a start over Salah and Gakpo, so a place on the bench is the best he can hope for, alongside 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A second-half cameo from the teenager could make for great viewing!<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how Liverpool\u2019s alternate team would look:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alisson<\/a>; Frimpong, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitike<\/p>\n

After a long pre-season and a glorified friendly at Wembley, the serious business starts now!<\/p>\n

Liverpool have looked strong during the summer, but not perfect, and they will need to be more solid defensively against a dangerous Bournemouth<\/a> side.<\/p>\n

But barring the Mac Allister dilemma in midfield, the vast majority of Reds fans would pick 10 of the same 11 players at Anfield.<\/p>\n

Slot will have harder teams to select as the season goes on, but this one is largely easy to predict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool\u2019s first starting lineup of the new Premier League season against Bournemouth largely picks itself, but will Alexis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59,134,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-66493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-gb","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}