Crystal Palace vs. Liverpool is the Community Shield final: it won’t be a walk in the park for the English champions to beat the FA Cup winners
It’s time for the now classic “appetizer” of the 2025-26 season: on Sunday, Crystal Palace face Liverpool in the Community Shield. Whether you consider it a real match or a luxury friendly often depends on whether your team wins or loses, but it is likely that both will want to win a trophy right away to give momentum to what they hope will be a successful season.
Liverpool come into the game as Premier League champions, having easily won their 20th top-flight title (equaling the record) in the 2024-25 season, while Crystal Palace sensationally won their first major trophy by beating Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup final in May.
For Crystal Palace, it will be their first appearance in the competition. The statistics are not encouraging: none of the last four teams making their debut have won the trophy and, even more worryingly, two lost to Liverpool (Southampton in 1976 and Wimbledon in 1988).
Liverpool were defeated by Newcastle at Wembley last March in the EFL Cup final and will be looking to redeem themselves. They have never lost twice in the same calendar year at the national stadium.
Crystal Palace, for their part, have a good record at Wembley: they have won four of the six games they have played there since 2007 (when the stadium reopened), losing only to Manchester United (2016 FA Cup final) and Chelsea (2022 FA Cup semi-final).
Latest team news
Oliver Glasner’s side come into this game having made just two signings in the summer transfer window: left-back Borna Sosa, who joined from Ajax, and former PSV goalkeeper Walter Benítez, also picked up from the Eredivisie. Crucially, the club has so far held on to its most important players, including Eberechi Eze, despite rumours of interest from Arsenal. Eze scored the decisive goal in the FA Cup final in May and has been involved in 12 goals in Palace’s last 13 games in all competitions (nine goals and three assists). Glasner confirmed on Friday that Eddie Nketiah will be out for another eight weeks due to injury, while Matheus França and youngster Caleb Kporha will also be absent. Former Bayer Leverkusen duo Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz are expected to start, while Milos Kerkez and Hugo Ekitiké could also feature from the outset.
Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez are expected to miss the match through injury, while Alisson is available again after having to leave Liverpool’s Asian tour to return to Brazil due to a family emergency.h
Odds comparison
Liverpool are priced at 1.55 on Goldbet and Lottomatica.
A goal is priced at 1.75 on Goldbet and Lottomatica.
Prediction
Liverpool remain favorites to win in a match with at least one goal per team.
Probable lineups for Crystal Palace-Liverpool
CRYSTAL PALACE (4-3-3): Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Hughes, Wharton, Sosa; Eze, Sarr; Mateta. LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Frimpong, Gomez, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Jones; Salah, Szoboszlai, Wirtz; Ekitike. POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-2