Liverpool and Athletic Bilbao will face off in a unique club friendly double-header at Anfield on Monday evening.
Both teams will ramp up their preparations for the new season by participating in back-to-back matches on Merseyside.
Arne Slot’s side kicked off their pre-season schedule with wins over Preston and Stoke before going up against both AC Milan and Yokohama Marinos on their tour of Asia.
Now back at their Anfield base, Liverpool will fulfil their final two friendly fixtures ahead of next weekend’s Community Shield curtain-raiser with Crystal Palace.
As for Athletic Bilbao, they will face Liverpool on Monday before heading south to take on Arsenal in the Emirates Cup next weekend.
Ernesto Valverde’s side have lost three of their four pre-season friendly fixtures thus far, including each of the last three.
How the bookies view it: Odds unavailable
Given the unusual format of this pre-season friendly fixture, it’s no surprise to see that pre-match odds are currently unavailable. Should the bookmakers release any odds, they will appear here in due course.
Head to head: History book dormant
Somewhat surprisingly, the two teams have crossed paths on just four occasions in competitive action, with the last encounter way back in 1983. Liverpool have two wins to Athletic Bilbao's one while the other meeting ended goalless.
Players to watch: Florian to fire?
Florian Wirtz scored his first goal for Liverpool in Wednesday’s 3-1 win over Yokohama. The classy German playmaker will be keen to make an impression when he makes his Anfield debut for the Reds on Monday.
Both Inaki Williams and Nico Williams will offer plenty of attacking threat for Athletic Bilbao, with the former scoring against PSV last weekend.
Predicted line-ups
Goalkeeper Alisson missed Liverpool’s win over Yokohama while Joe Gomez is expected to miss out here due to injury.
Athletic Bilbao have a clean bill of health, so each member of their squad should get minutes at some stage during Monday evening’s double-header.
Liverpool: Mamardashvili; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitike
Athletic Bilbao: Simon; Ares, Lekue, Vivian, Boiro; Jauregizar, Vesga; I Williams, Gomez, N Williams; Guruzeta
Anything else catch the eye?
Based on what we have seen from Liverpool during pre-season so far, backing goals could be the order of the day at Anfield.
The Reds ran out 3-1 winners over Preston and Yokohama either side of a 4-2 defeat to AC Milan.
With that in mind, BTTS, Over 2.5 and Over 3.5 Goals could all be worthy of consideration, price permitting of course.
GambleAware