Preview: Swindon Town - Liverpool - £60 million duo set for debut in Reds' final friendly

Liverpool will round off their pre-season campaign with a trip to face League One outfit Swindon Town, with Roberto Firmino and Christian Benteke set to make their debuts.

Preview: Swindon Town - Liverpool - £60 million duo set for debut in Reds' final friendly
thefalsewinger7
By Conor Slater

Following a 2-0 win in Finland, the rest of the Liverpool squad will wrap up pre-season with an encounter that brings together Swindon Town and the Premier League outfit at the County Ground on Sunday afternoon.

A 16-man squad travelled to Finland, with many youngsters such as Pedro Chirivella, Ryan Kent, Ryan Fulton, Joe Gomez included - alongside new signing Allan Rodrigues de Souza. With this in mind, there will be many first team players eager to impress against Swindon after being over looked for the trip to Finland.

Strong side to travel south to Swindon

Adam Bogdan is more than likely set to start in goal, with Simon Mignolet and Ryan Fulton both featuring in the trip to Finland. Academy shot-stopper Lawrence Vigouroux may start on the bench, however, the keeper is likely to join Swindon in a season-long loan soon.

Alberto Moreno is likely to be one of the most high-profile names,  with the left-back the only likely choice to fill the void with Gomez picking up an 80 minute outing while in Finland and the Englishman's deputy on the night, Joe Maguire, also featuring for 10 minutes.

Mamadou Sakho and Kolo Toure will feature at centre-back due to the partnership of Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren impressing in Finland.

Young Irishman, Daniel Cleary could be set to be named on the bench following his impressive cameo while on tour with the first team squad earlier this summer.

After the departure of Andre Wisdom, who headed to Norwich City on a season-long loan recently, Emre Can could play at right-back, with other options including Academy players, Ryan McLaughlin and Conor Randall.

Amongst the highly-rated midfielders not to travel with the supposed preferred XI to Finland, is Joe Allen and Lucas Leiva who will look to add some much needed minutes and force themselves into Brendan Rodgers' plans for next week's encounter against Stoke City.

Depending on the system adopted by Rodgers and his new look backroom staff, a host of players could join the experienced duo of Allen and Lucas in the engine room. Jordan Rossiter has featured heavily during pre-season, although more attacking players such as Sheyi Ojo or Joao Carlos Teixeira may be used instead.

Lazar Markovic will be looking to show Liverpool fans what he is really all about following a poor opening season at L4, but after impressing in his few cameo appearances so far this pre-season, the Serbian could be on a road to redemption.

Liverpool fans will be eager to see new signings Christian Benteke and Roberto Firmino, and the boss, Rodgers, has confirmed that the pair that cost over £60 million will both feature against Swindon, after being omitted from the squad which travelled to Finland.

The opposition for Liverpool tomorrow will provide a stern test with the League One outfit coming 4th in their division last season, with manager Mark Cooper, known to have adopted a fluid style of play despite his side falling victim in the play-off final to Preston North End.

The relationship between both Liverpool and Swindon has grown over recent years with the likes of Brad Smith, Kevin Stewart and Jordan Williams all heading on loan to the League One side, with keeper Lawrence Vigouroux likely to join them on loan in the next 48 hours.

Final fixture of six-game pre-season

Sunday's fixture at Swindon brings to an end the Reds' long pre-season, which saw them travel to the Far East and Australia earlier this summer.

They opened with a 4-0 win over the Thai All Stars, before wins over A-League duo Brisbane Roar and Adelaide United in Australia.

They then returned to Malaysia to take on a Malaysian Selection, drawing 1-1 thanks to Jordon Ibe's strike.

Their last fixture, against HJK Helsinki on Saturday, ended in a 2-0 win after goals from Divock Origi and Philippe Coutinho.