Liverpool are in pre-season action for the final time this summer as they take on Lyon at the Stade de Geneve on Wednesday evening.
The Reds have lost three and drawn one of their last four friendlies and are in need of a response in Switzerland ahead of their Community Shield clash with Manchester City next weekend.
Lyon
© ReutersLyon kickstarted their summer programme with a well-earned 2-1 comeback victory over Arsenal on Sunday to win the revamped Emirates Cup.
Les Gones had suffered back-to-back losses to Servette and Genoa in their opening two friendlies, but they impressed against the Gunners and picked up the win through a Moussa Dembele brace.
Dembele is one of a number of star players in Lyon's squad, alongside the likes of Memphis Depay, Bertrand Traore and Houssem Aouar, and he has recently earned links with a move to Manchester United.
New boss Sylvinho is understandably keen to keep the Frenchman in his squad, however, having already lost Tanguy Ndombele, Ferland Mendy and Nabil Fekir.
To compensate for the loss of some key players, Joachim Andersen has been brought in from Sampdoria for around £22m and Thiago Mendes has also arrived from Ligue 1 rivals Lille to replace Ndombele.
After finishing third in Ligue 1 last season, 19 points adrift of runaway champions Paris Saint-Germain, the aim for Sylvinho this term will be to overtake Lille and put some pressure on PSG.
The early signs are certainly positive if the win over Arsenal is anything to go by, and Lyon now have another tough friendly against English opposition to get them ready for their Ligue 1 opener with Monaco on August 9.
Recent form in pre-season: LLW
Liverpool
© ReutersLiverpool's preparations for the new campaign have not exactly gone to plan thus far, not helped by the absence of a number of their key players.
The Reds were still without Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Alisson Becker for their 3-0 loss to Napoli at the weekend, with each of those players being given extra time off following their international commitments.
Salah, Firmino and Alisson are all part of Klopp's travelling party for their training camp in Evian, however, and each of them should be given minutes against Lyon.
Mane, meanwhile, is still a week away from returning to training after helping Senegal to reach the final of the Africa Cup of Nations on July 19.
Klopp will feel that only now can he truly prepare for the new campaign, having had to rely on a number of fringe players and youngsters during the first few weeks of pre-season.
As well as losing heavily to Napoli in Edinburgh on Sunday, going down to goals from Lorenzo Insigne, Arkadiusz Milik and Amin Younes, Liverpool have also lost to Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla, while drawing 2-2 with Sporting Lisbon.
Klopp sees no reason to be worried by the European champions' form heading into the new campaign, but he concedes that they need to get things right over the next week.
With Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri also back in full training after recovering from injuries, the Reds will have near enough a full group of players to choose from for this final friendly fixture.
Then comes the Community Shield showdown with English champions Man City on Sunday and a home match with Norwich City to open up their 2019-20 Premier League campaign five days later.
Cutting out the defensive errors and integrating Salah & Co. back into the starting lineup will be the main priority for Klopp this week. Another defeat, though, and Liverpool supporters will not share the German coach's positivity for the season ahead.
Recent form in pre-season: WWLLDL
Team News
© ReutersAfter representing their countries at international tournaments this summer, Salah, Firmino and Alisson will be involved for the first time since Liverpool's Champions League final win over Tottenham Hotspur.
Shaqiri and Keita will also be given minutes if they can prove their fitness in the training sessions leading up to Wednesday's match in Geneva.
A trio of youngsters have not been named as part of the squad, though, with Curtis Jones, Ben Woodburn and Nat Phillips remaining on Merseyside. Ryan Kent also misses out because of illness.
As for Lyon, Dembele is in line for a start after netting twice from the bench against Arsenal last time out.
Sylvinho used 20 different players in the previous friendly with Genoa, but he will likely use this match as a chance to begin forming a settled starting XI.
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Lopes; Tete, Yanga-Mbiwa, Denayer, Rafael; Aouar, Mendes, Tousart; Traore, Dembele, Depay
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Milner, Henderson; Salah, Origi, Firmino
Head To Head
Liverpool have met Lyon just twice before in competitive matches.
Those two fixtures came in the 2009-10 Champions League group stage, with the Reds losing 2-1 at Anfield and drawing 1-1 in the reverse meeting in France two weeks later.
Ryan Babel was on target for Liverpool in that most recent encounter, but his 83rd-minute goal was not enough as Lisandro Lopez struck right at the death to rescue his side a point.
We say: Lyon 1-1 Liverpool
After a few disappointing results and performances, Liverpool could really do with a morale-boosting victory in midweek. They welcome back five more players this week, but none of them will be fully fit and this could be another tricky evening.
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