Written by Mark Strickland
On Wednesday, The Athletic’s James Pearce confirmed Liverpool’s pre-season friendly at Championship club Preston North End on Sunday will still go ahead as planned.
Discussions between the clubs took place following the tragic deaths of Diogo Jota and his younger brother Andre Silva following a road traffic accident in Spain on Thursday, July 3.
The Reds will make the hour-long trip to Deepdale (3pm kick-off BST), which promises to be an incredibly poignant return to match action.
The match will be available on the free-to-air channel, ITV 1 — an agreement struck before Jota’s tragic passing.
The summer so far
Sunday will be the first chance to catch a glimpse of the four marquee new signings: Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure — confirmed on May 30 — was played out very publicly, and the club announced Frimpong as his replacement on the same day.
The departure of Alexander-Arnold also leaves a vacancy at vice-captain, a void which Mohammed Salah will undoubtedly fill.
He remains the Reds’ highest earner after signing his new two-year contract in April, with his new wages the most Liverpool have ever paid.
Just that alone would have commanded him the position of captain, if not for Virgil van Dijk being such a clear and standout successor in the role to Jordan Henderson.
Andy Robertson’s on and off-pitch leadership and experience remain invaluable, and the Reds cannot go into the season with three senior left-backs, so Tsimikas is the favourite to leave.
Notably, Jarell Quansah — and less notably Nat Phillips — have completed permanent transfers to Bayer Leverkusen and West Bromwich Albion, which leaves Liverpool with only three senior centre-backs: van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez.
Wataru Endo can deputise very ably there, but again, it is not what you want going into a new season.
The Reds were left short when they did not replace Dejan Lovren in 2020, and van Dijk, Gomez, and Joel Matip sustained long-term injuries.
Marc Guehi — England international and 2025 FA Cup winner with Crystal Palace — has been heavily rumoured as Quansah’s replacement, but will want playing time assurances.
Pre-Season Preview | Redmen Originals Special
Liverpool agreed a deal to sign Mamardashvili last August for the start of this season, which led to Caoimhin Kelleher joining Brentford on June 3.
Vitezslav Jaros has joined Ajax on loan, reuniting with their manager and Everton player-turned-Liverpool-assistant-coach Johnny Heitinga. Harvey Davies, 21, has also been loaned to Crawley Town.
Liverpool have replaced them with Freddie Woodman — who joined on the expiry of his contract with Preston on July 1 — and Armin Pesci, who may both be involved on Sunday.
Most of the Reds’ senior squad reported back to the AXA Training Centre in Kirby for the start of 2025–26 pre-season training on Tuesday.
So, with a maximum of five days’ training, the match action will be about match fitness, with possibly a few eye-catching passages of play.
Preston returned for pre-season on June 30 and won 1–0 at National League North Chorley on Wednesday, with their new Spud Bros-sponsored kit causing a stir on X.
Reds supporters may remember Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom after he took interim charge of Sheffield United when Chris Wilder left by mutual consent in their 2020–21 Premier League relegation season.
Liverpool and Preston: A Recent History
The away fans will be located in the Bill Shankly Kop on Sunday, and the seats display the face of the legendary Liverpool manager, who won the 1938 FA Cup with Preston as a player.
The last four meetings between the two clubs have been at Deepdale, and the Reds have won all of them.
There was a 2–0 victory in the fourth round of the memorable 2021–22 Carabao Cup-winning campaign, memorable for Divock Origi’s outrageous back-heel flick.
A stunning strike from Albert Riera and a late Fernando Torres tap-in sealed a victory by the same scoreline in the 2008–09 FA Cup third round under Rafa Benitez.
And there were 4–0 and 2–1 friendly victories in 2013–14 and 2014–15 — the winning margins indicative of those contrasting seasons.
Jordan Ibe and Iago Aspas scored in the former and Suso and Kristoffer Peterson in the latter — to different extents, none would last at Anfield.
Prediction
In line with the Reds’ last two competitive visits to Preston, I will say a comfortable 2–0 to Liverpool.
