Ipswich vs Liverpool live commentary: Arne Slot begins his Reds tenure with a trip to the Premier League new boys – kick-off time, team news and talkSPORT coverage
Ipswich will mark their return to the Premier League by hosting Liverpool at Portman Road on Saturday, exclusively live on talkSPORT.
Kieran McKenna's team They were promoted for the second consecutive season last season and will now look to compete among the big teams.
It will be their first top-flight campaign in 22 years and they have been handed one of the league's toughest fixtures to start with.
Arne's Slot begins his term as Reds The coach will try to follow in the footsteps of the club legend this weekend. Jurgen Klopp which left earlier this summer.
The Dutchman will be desperate to start with a win against newly promoted opponents to prove he is a worthy successor.
Ipswich vs Liverpool: Arne's luck
In their last preseason game against SevilleLiverpool won 4-1. 'Slot Ball' was put on display in front of the Anfield crowd for the first time.
They thrived on fast, attacking football and built brilliantly from the back throughout the game, thrilling the supporters in the stands.
There were some doubts about the Reds' upcoming campaign as they begin life without Klopp on the touchline for the first time since 2015.
But after seeing what Slot will bring to the side, fans have given their opinion on the early days of the new era.
One fan wrote on social media: “The slot ball is a sight to behold.”
Another wrote: “Slot Ball is absolutely stunning.”
A third argument: “Attracting pressure from the opponent and quickly taking advantage of the space left behind him. The Slot Ball is fantastic.”
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- Liverpool have never lost a Premier League game at Portman Road against Ipswich Town (L5 W3 D2), winning 6-0 on their last visit in February 2002. They have gone more games there without losing than at any other Premier League ground.
- Ipswich Town's last Premier League game was in May 2002 against Liverpool at Anfield, where they lost 5-0 and were relegated. Since then, the two sides have only met once, a 1-1 draw in the League Cup in December 2002 before the Tractor Boys lost 5-4 on penalties.
Ipswich vs Liverpool: team news
Ipswich: Walton, Tuanzebe, Woolfenden, Greaves, Davis, Luongo, Morsy, Burns, Chaplin, Giraud-Hutchinson, Delap.
Subs:Slicker, Phillips, Taylor, Burgess, Al Hamadi, Johnson, Townsend, Szmodics and Harness.
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, van Dijk, Robertson, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Jota, Díaz.
Subs: Kelleher, Endo, Konate, Núñez, Jones, Gakpo, Elliott, Tsimikas, Bradley.
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- No player in Premier League history has scored more opening-day goals than Liverpool’s Mo Salah (8, level with Alan Shearer, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney), while only Wayne Rooney (13 – 8 goals, 5 assists) has more opening-day goal involvements in the competition than the Egyptian (12 – 8 goals, 4 assists).
- This will be the first time two managers (Ipswich's Kieran McKenna and Liverpool's Arne Slot) have taken charge of their first Premier League game against each other since David Wagner's Huddersfield beat Frank De Boer's Crystal Palace 3-0 in August 2017.
Ipswich vs Liverpool: What's been said?
Ipswich manager McKenna has identified set-pieces as key for his side as they navigate a difficult Premier League campaign.
Speaking after the Tractor Boy's last friendly against Nice, he said: “There's no doubt about it.
“I've talked a lot about how we're going to have to try to keep our identity but adapt and we're not going to be able to open up the game as much every minute of every game as we did last season.
“We're going to have to find moments to do that and find time to keep the game a little bit closer and we're also going to have fewer set pieces.
“That's why it will be of the utmost importance to be even more efficient against them and we will defend more, so we will have to be even more resilient against our set pieces.
“We have a lot of challenges there and it’s been two weeks in a row where we’ve kept a clean sheet for 90 minutes and scored from set pieces, so it’s a very good way to get stronger again.”
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- Only Stockport County (96) and Manchester City (96) scored more league goals than Ipswich Town in England’s top four divisions last season (92). In fact, since Kieran McKenna first took charge of the club in December 2021, only Manchester City (239) have scored more league goals than the Tractor Boys (222).
- For the fifth time in the last six seasons, Liverpool begin their Premier League campaign with a game against a newly promoted side (W3 D1 previously). They have not lost on the opening day in their last 11 seasons (W8 D3) since losing 3-0 to West Brom in 2012-13 in Brendan Rodgers' first game in charge.
Ipswich vs Liverpool: talkSPORT coverage
This Premier League clash will take place on Saturday, August 17.
Kick-off at Portman Road is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
talkSPORT will have EXCLUSIVE live coverage of the game presented by Reshmin Chowdhury.
Commentary will be provided by Joe Shennan, former Chelsea advocate Scott Minto and former Ipswich captain Luke Chambers.
talkSPORT.com will also be broadcasting a live blog of all the action.
To tune into talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 via the website, click HERE for the live stream.
You can also listen through talkSPORT Appon DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
The game will be broadcast live on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate.
Ipswich vs Liverpool: Betting tips with talkSPORT BET
Match odds:
Ipswich- 15/2
Draw – 17/4
Liverpool- 3/10
*Rates subject to change
See more Premier League Odds here
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