After almost two months off, football is back for the Reds and their fans can get excited to watch some of their favourites play once again.

Liverpool take on Preston North End in their first fixture before their tour of Asia, with this being Arne Slot’s first chance to try out some of his newest additions.

Florian Wirtz will be a player that everyone will have their eye on as he is in line for his debut since making the £116m move from Bayer Leverkusen, while the likes of Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez will also likely feature.

Arne Slot makes Diogo Jota Liverpool promise ahead of first pre-season match vs Preston North End	Arne Slot delivers powerful words on Diogo Jota before first pre-season game	Liverpool confirm Diogo Jota and Andre Silva tributes for first pre-season game

However, Slot has plenty of other things to think about and there is one in particular that he will do for the very first time since taking over from Jurgen Klopp, with this decision potentially proving vital ahead of their title defence next season.

Photo by Nikki Dyer – LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

The leadership group is something that managers need to get right as selecting the right players can really motivate those around them.

Virgil van Dijk is as good a captain as anyone could hope for, but a new vice captain is needed after Trent Alexander-Arnold departed for Real Madrid this summer.

That being said, Slot could use pre-season and this game against Preston as a chance to pick the right candidate, with there being three clear options.

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Mohamed Salah, Alisson Becker and Andy Robertson are the leading candidates as they are the only remaining members of the leadership group.

The Egyptian is the most likely to take up the role but nothing is confirmed yet, although all three will likely wear it at some point next season.

The trio could all start alongside van Dijk at Deepdale, however, suggesting that today might not be the day that fans find out, but the armband will be passed on at some point given that substitutions will be aplenty, so it will be interesting to see who gets it.

One thing that will frustrate many about Alexander-Arnold’s departure is that he was in line to inherit the armband from van Dijk yet still decided to go, meaning Slot needs to get this one right.

Although Salah, Robertson and Alisson are all good choices, they could all equally depart in the near future, and so too could van Dijk.

That being said, Slot may opt for a younger player to act as vice to avoid too much of a shake-up to the leadership group in a few seasons’ time, making it more interesting to see who gets the armband this afternoon.

A player like Dominik Szoboszlai could have an outside chance as he is the captain of his national team, so too could Alexis Mac Allister.

In terms of other options, there are not too many candidates, suggesting Slot will likely play it safe and go with one of the existing leadership group members.