Liverpool take on Crystal Palace at Wembley on Sunday in the 2025 FA Community Shield.
The Reds clinched last season’s Premier League title at a canter, finishing 10 points clear of the chasing pack despite winning only one of their last five matches.
They’ve lost a few stars since then in the form of Trent Alexander-Arnold and more recently Luis Diaz, but there have been plenty of eye-catching new arrivals who have already integrated into Arne Slot’s squad throughout pre-season.
Palace, meanwhile, enter Sunday’s showpiece as the reigning FA Cup holders, having triumphed over heavy favourites and seven-time winners Manchester City to hoist the club’s first major trophy in history.
Date, kick-off time and venue
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool is scheduled for a 3pm BST kick-off on Sunday, August 10, 2025.
The match will take place at Wembley Stadium.
Where to watch Crystal Palace vs Liverpool
TV channel: In the UK, the game will be televised live on TNT Sports 1, with coverage starting at 2pm BST ahead of the 3pm kick-off.
Live stream: TNT Sports subscribers can also catch the contest live online via the Discovery+ app and website.
Live blog: You can follow all the action on matchday via Standard Sport’s live blog, with expert analysis from Matt Verri at Wembley.
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool team news
Eddie Nketiah is one man who will not be involved for Palace, having suffered a hamstring injury early on in the second of his team’s friendly double-header against Augsburg last week.
Marc Guehi, on the other hand, is expected to feature against Liverpool despite ongoing speculation linking the England international with a summer move to Anfield. The same goes for Arsenal target Eberechi Eze, who has continued to star for the Eagles in pre-season alongside strike partner Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Few new signings have been made at Selhurst Park so far this summer, much to the chagrin of Palace boss Oliver Glasner. Walter Benitez is unlikely to displace Dean Henderson in goal, while Borna Sosa has shown some pre-season promise but missed out against Augsburg, meaning Tyrick Mitchell’s position at left-back should remain safe for now at least.
For Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk is expected to be ready for a return after missing his side’s latest pre-season outing, at home to Athletic Club on Monday, through illness. As is goalkeeper Alisson, with both men back in training. The Brazilian shot-stopper left the Reds’ pre-season tour of Asia early due to personal reasons and has not played since, but Slot said earlier this week that he “will be back in time” for the Community Shield.
However, it will be a “tight” call when it comes to fellow backline men Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley’s involvement on Sunday, Slot added, as the two defenders deal with injuries.
If the latter misses out, it’s likely Jeremie Frimpong starts at right-back for his first competitive match in Liverpool colours - specifically the club’s new adidas away kit, in this case. Milos Kerkez, meanwhile, appears to have usurped Andy Robertson at left-back.
There are no reported fitness concerns further up the pitch for the Reds, with the likes of Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz also in line for their competitive debuts in attack alongside existing stars including Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo. Youngsters such as Rio Ngumoha or Trey Nyoni might also play a part, having impressed during pre-season.
Salah will be looking to end his Wembley hoodoo, having failed to register a goal or assist in any of his last seven appearances at England’s national stadium. He last scored there in his first outing, against the ground’s temporary inhabitants Tottenham back in October 2017.
One player who may not be involved on Sunday is Darwin Nunez, with the Uruguayan forward reportedly on the verge of a move to Saudi side Al-Hilal.
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool prediction
Liverpool are 16-time winners of the Community Shield, with the Reds last hoisting the trophy in 2022.
Palace, meanwhile, will compete on this stage for the first time.
Community Shield first-timers haven’t fared particularly well in recent history, with each of the last four such teams losing their contest - including two of them (Southampton in 1976 and Wimbledon in 1988) to Liverpool.
Still, the Eagles can take solace in having overcome the odds to beat City and make it this far, as well as the fact that the FA Cup winners have beaten the league champions to the Community Shield in seven of the last nine matches. Liverpool, for their part, have also won the Community Shield outright only once in their last six attempts when coming in as league champions.
The game could be a close affair and will go straight to a penalty shootout - as three of the last five Community Shield matches have - if the scores are level after 90 minutes. But Liverpool, their title-winning squad minus a few figures but boosted by a raft of new signings and coming off a strong pre-season, should have enough to see things out by that point.
If they haven’t, however, Palace - who should hear the verdict of their appeal against demotion from the Europa League on Monday - might fancy their chances given their opponents have lost on each of the last two occasions when they’ve had to decide the Community Shield with spot-kicks.
Liverpool to win, 2-1.
Head to head (h2h) history and results
Palace have totted up 15 victories against Liverpool in the two sides’ competitive history, but only one of those has come in the last eight years: a shock 1-0 win at Anfield at the start of the Glasner era in April 2024.
There have been a few heavy defeats in that time, including a 0-7 thrashing at Selhurst Park in 2020, but every tie since the start of the 2022-23 season has either ended in a draw or been decided by a single goal.
The Reds, in contrast, have beaten the Eagles 37 times, and took four points away from their pair of Premier League meetings last season including a campaign-ending draw in May.
These two sides have never met at Wembley, though, so that’s one piece of history still up for grabs along with this year’s Community Shield honours.
Crystal Palace wins: 15
Liverpool wins: 37
Draws: 14
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool match odds
Crystal Palace to win: 4/1
Liverpool to win: 8/15
Draw: 5/2
Odds via Betfair (subject to change).
