Liverpool fixture change against Man City explained as pre-season plan starts taking shape

Liverpool will be denied a fourth visit to Wembley this year - with their Community Shield clash against Manchester City being forced to switch venue.

Regardless of whoever finishes top of the Premier League in the ongoing battle between the pair, the Reds will face City in the traditional curtain-raiser to next season after lifting the FA Cup with a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Chelsea on Saturday.

With the league campaign starting early due to the World Cup taking place in Qatar during November and December, the fixture is scheduled to take place on July 31.

And that means the match will not be able to be played at its usual venue of Wembley, where Liverpool also beat Chelsea in the League Cup final and City in the FA Cup semi-final earlier this season. The national stadium is instead hosting the women's European Championship final that day.

Leicester City's King Power Stadium, Leeds United home Elland Road, Villa Park, Arsenal's Emirates Stadium and the London Stadium are all in the running to host the game. While no final decision has yet been made, latest reports suggest Leicester now appears the front-runner - which, given it has a capacity of 32,261, would mean only be a relatively small number of Liverpool supporters would be officially in attendance.

The game will represent a third warm-up match for Jurgen Klopp's side as they build up to the new season after a break of five weeks.

After the squad breaks up following the Champions League final against Real Madrid at the end of this month, Liverpool's non-international players will return for pre-season training during the first week of July before the squad flies out to the Far East for friendlies against Manchester United in Bangkok on Tuesday,