The curtain raiser to the new English Premier League season takes place at Wembley on Sunday when title winners Liverpool will take on FA Cup holders Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace
After winning the FA Cup Final against Manchester City lat season Palace are still waiting to find out if they will be competing in the Europa League or the Conference League. They finished 12th in the 2024/25 EPL standings with 13 wins, 14 draws and 11 defeats, scoring 51 goals and conceding the same number.
At the time of writing Palace had brought in just two players, Walter Benitez from PSV Eindhoven on a free and Borna Sosa from Ajax for £3m. To date there is nothing too alarming in terms of departures despite talk around star men Eze and Guehi.
Liverpool
Liverpool finished 10 points clear at the top of the EPL standings last season. They had the title wrapped up a long way out and the margin to the chasers would have been far greater had their results not tailed off in their final matches.
Liverpool have been spending big and on proven quality. Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia (£29m) and Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth (£40m) and Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen (£29.5m) are the new recurits in defence. Further up the field Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen (£116m) and Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt (£79m) are other marquee signings and the spending may not have stopped yet.
In the opposite direction Trent Alexander-Arnold, Caoimhin Kelleher, Jarell Quansah and Luis Diaz have all moved on.
The Betting
Before we take a look at the betting for this match a quick heads up on the outright markets for the 2025/26 EPL season. Sportingbet make Liverpool 1.75/1 favourites to defend the league title with Arsenal 24/10, Man City 3/1 and Chelsea 9/1. As far as Palace are concerned they are 1.75/1 to finish in the top 10.
On to the Community Shield and to win the match in regulation time Palace are 4.25/1, the draw is 32/10 and Liverpool are 6/10.
A game of 3 goals or more in total is 8/10 and it's 7/10 for both teams to score.
Prices are subject to change
Community Shield Recent History
Since 2017 five of the last 8 Community Shield matches have gone to spot kicks with 1-1 being the popular full time scoreline. Liverpool's 3-1 win over Man City in 2022 is the only game where backers of over 2.5 goals collected.
The Verdict
It could be that Palace's transfer activity has been quiet due to the situation around which European competition they will be playing in and when you compare that to what Liverpool have been doing in the market, you can see why Slot's team are such firm favourites.
I'm looking forward to the new season but Community Shield matches do little to stimulate my betting interest. However if pushed for a multi correct score pick I will nibble at Liverpool to win 2-1, 3-1 or 4-1
Bet: Multiscores 1-2, 1-3 or 1-4 at 33/10 with Sportingbet
Prices are subject to change
