Liverpool have looked good in their last two friendly matches against Trenmere Rovers and Fleetwood Town, but Klopps' men have a much tougher opponent in the form of Wigan Athletic on Sunday. Liverpool will be keen to come up with another blistering performance and continue their impressive start.
Liverpool have used such pre-season matches to test the depth of his squad, and also experiment with different combinations. New signings like Sadio Mane, Joel Matip, Marko Grujic, along with youngsters and regulars such as Roberto Firmino have shown some fine skills, while Serbian Lazar Markovic has not been impressive. This match is going to be of huge importance to the Serbian, who has to impress Klopp if he wants to stay with the Reds this season.
However, one could also get to see Brazilian star Philippe Coutinho feature against Wigan. It will be interesting to see how the no. 10 links with players like Mane and Grujic. If these stars combine well, Liverpool are going to be a huge threat to Wigan, and also more importantly in the Premier League.
Though Liverpool might have had it easy in their last two matches, dominating possession, and the Red's goalkeeper was not busy as well. Things might change a bit, with Wigan possessing some good players, who could threaten to score a goal. This could prove to be Loris Karius' first major test as goalkeeper since arriving in England.
Mane and Grujic have been impressive in Liverpool colours, and will be keen to once again shine for the Reds, who are expected to play a fast game against Wigan. There has been a changed approach from Liverpool in the pre-season, with defenders, Matip and Dejan Lovren, primarily, not holding the ball for long, and just unleashing ball forward. The same strategy may be adopted against Wigan as well.
Wigan, on the other hand, lost to Manchester United on Saturday, and it remains to be seen the players, who manager Gary Caldwell will field against Liverpool. They might have lost to United, but Wigan showed glimpses of what they are capable of against a top side as well.
Wigan must have learnt some important things from their loss to United, and Cladwell will make sure that errors are not there against Liverpool.
"But it's something we can definitely learn from. Off the ball I think we can learn a lot of things moving forward, but for us it was a very good exercise. For us to play in front of that crowd, in pre-season, gives it bit more edge if there wasn't such a big crowd," Wigan Today quoted Cladwell after United loss.
Where to watch live
Wigan Athletic vs Liverpool is scheduled for 4 p.m local time (8:30 pm IST). There is no live TV coverage of the game in India and US.
UK and Irealand viewers can watch the game live on LFCTV, with live streaming on LFC Online.
Japan and Sweden fans can watch Wigan Athletic vs Liverpool live on J Sports 2 and Viasat football.
