Ipswich will mark their return to the Premier League by welcoming Liverpool to Portman Road on Saturday, exclusively live on talkSPORT.

Kieran McKenna’s side were promoted for the second straight season last term and will now look to compete amongst the big boys. 

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Ipswich return to the Premier League after a superb Championship seasonCredit: Getty

It will be their first top-flight campaign in 22 years and they’ve been handed one of the league’s toughest fixtures to kick things off. 

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Arne Slot begins his tenure as Reds boss this weekend as he looks to follow in the footsteps of club legend Jurgen Klopp who departed earlier this summer. 

The Dutchman will be desperate to get off to a winning start against newly-promoted opposition to prove that he is a worthy successor. 

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In their final pre-season game against Sevilla, Liverpool ran out 4-1 winners as ‘Slot Ball’ was put on show in front of the Anfield crowd for the first time. 

They thrived on fast, attacking football and brilliantly built up from the back throughout the game, exciting supporters in the stands. 

There were some doubts over the Reds’ upcoming campaign as they begin life without Klopp on the touchline for the first time since 2015. 

But after seeing what Slot will bring to their side, fans have had their say on the early days of the new era.

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Writing on social media, one fan said: "Slot ball is a spectacle."

Another wrote: "Slot Ball is absolutely stunning."

A third put: "Luring the opposition pressure and quickly exploiting the space left in behind them.

Slot Ball is fantastic."

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Fans are excited to see Slot Ball in full flowCredit: Getty

Liverpool fan is adamant that Arne Slot can turn Liverpool into title contenders next seasonLiverpool have never lost a Premier League match at Portman Road against Ipswich Town (P5 W3 D2), with their last visit a 6-0 win in February 2002.

They’ve played more games there without losing than any other ground in the Premier League.Ipswich Town’s most recent Premier League game was in May 2002 against Liverpool at Anfield, losing 5-0 as they were relegated.

Since then, the two sides have only faced once, a 1-1 draw in the League Cup in December 2002 before the Tractor Boys lost 5-4 on penalties.

New signings Ben Johnson, Arijanet Muric and Liam Delap all look set to start the opening game of the Premier League season for Ipswich. 

Captain Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo will look to continue their strong midfield partnership while Leif Davis was one of the stars of the Championship last campaign. 

Omari Hutchinson, who joined the club on a permanent deal this summer following a loan, will be one of their main attacking threats. 

As for Liverpool, Slot split his squad into two for their final friendlies, hinting at the team he is likely to select for this game. 

Against Sevilla, Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz led the line with the latter two scoring, meaning they are expected to now start. 

Jarell Quansah has been preferred to Ibrahima Konate so far and the youngster may start alongside Virgil van Dijk for their opener. 

Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Andy Robertson all played in the ‘secondary’ team but could easily be thrown in from the off at Portman Road. 

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Jota scored a stunner in Liverpool's win over SevillaCredit: GettyNo player in Premier League history has scored more goals on MD1 than Liverpool’s Mo Salah (8, level with Alan Shearer, Frank Lampard, and Wayne Rooney), while only Wayne Rooney (13 – 8 goals, 5 assists) has more goal involvements on the opening matchday in the competition than the Egyptian (12 – 8 goals, 4 assists).This will be the first time two managers (Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna and Liverpool’s Arne Slot) are taking charge of their first-ever Premier League match in a game against each other since David Wagner’s Huddersfield beat Frank De Boer’s Crystal Palace 3-0 in August 2017.

Ipswich boss McKenna has identified that set pieces are going to be key for his side as they navigate their way through a difficult Premier League season. 

Speaking after the Tractor Boy’s final friendly against Nice, he said: “There’s no doubt about it. 

“I’ve spoken lots about how we’re going to have to try and keep our identity but adapt and we’re not going to be able to open up the game as much every minute of every game pretty much like we did last season.

“We’re going to have to find times to do that and find time to keep the game a little bit more closed and also we’re going to get fewer set pieces. 

“So it’s going to be of the utmost importance to be even more efficient with them and we’re going to defend more, so we’re going to have to be even more resilient against our set plays.

“Lots of challenges for us in there and that’s two weeks in a row we’ve kept a clean sheet across 90 minutes and scored from a set play, so it’s a pretty good formula to strengthen ourselves again.”

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McKenna is being realistic about his side's play style this seasonCredit: GettyOnly Stockport County (96) and Manchester City (96) scored more league goals than Ipswich Town in England’s top four tiers last season (92).

Indeed, since Kieran McKenna took charge of the club for the first time in December 2021, only Man City (239) have scored more league goals than the Tractor Boys (222).For the fifth time in the last six seasons, Liverpool begin their Premier League season with a match against a newly promoted side (W3 D1 previously).

They are unbeaten on MD1 in their last 11 seasons (W8 D3) since losing 3-0 to West Brom in 2012-13 in Brendan Rodgers’ first game in charge.

This Premier League clash will take place on Saturday, August 17. 

Kick-off at Portman Road is scheduled for 12:30pm. 

talkSPORT will have EXCLUSIVE live coverage of the game presented by Reshmin Chowdhury. 

Commentary will come from Joe Shennan, former Chelsea defender Scott Minto and former Ipswich captain Luke Chambers. 

talkSPORT.com will also be running a live blog of all the action. 

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream.

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You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

The game will be broadcast live on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate. 


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