Liverpool to play first match under Arne Slot as another pre-season friendly booked in

Liverpool will reportedly face Preston North End in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Friday. It will effectively be Arne Slot's first match in charge and will take place at the AXA Training Centre in Kirkby.

While the game will mainly be about fitness and implementing the first few tactical ideas that Slot has got across to the players who have been involved in pre-season so far, it also represents a good chance for those who play to impress. There will be lots of youngsters involved given that plenty of senior stars are still on holiday after the European Championship and Copa America.

Mohamed Salah , Wataru Endo , Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott are among the senior players who have been back in pre-season training so far. But the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alexis Mac Allister have only just begun their post-international tournament break.

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That means that young players including Harvey Blair could be involved. Sepp van den Berg and Nat Phillips, who could both make exits this summer, might also feature in the match, which will take place tomorrow, according to David Lynch .

Preston is managed by former Liverpool youth player Ryan Lowe. Another former academy striker, Layton Stewart, is also among the Championship side's roster having left the Reds last summer.

It remains to be seen how much information about the match will be made available to the public. Liverpool faces Real Betis in its first proper friendly next week in the US, before also playing Manchester United and Arsenal in the States and Sevilla at Anfield .

Its first match of the new Premier League season is against Ipswich Town in just under a month. Slot's men will also take on Manchester United at Old Trafford in its first five fixtures of the new season, along with Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Bournemeouth.