Liverpool will continue their preparations for the 2016-17 campaign with their second pre-season outing when they take on Fleetwood Town on Wednesday evening.

The Reds travel to Highbury Stadium to face their League One opponents with a number of first-team players expected to feature.

Fleetwood

© Getty Images

Just over a decade ago, the visit of a team like Liverpool, even in a pre-season match, would have been one of the highlights of the season for Fleetwood.

The Fishermen were plying their trade in the ninth tier of English football then, but have since enjoyed a meteoric rise with six promotions in the past 11 years.

It says a lot for their improved ambitions that the 2015-16 campaign went down as something of a disappointing one, with Fleetwood finishing 19th in the table, just five points clear of relegation back to League Two.

It was a tumultuous campaign that saw Graham Alexander sacked after just two wins in their first 10 games and replacement boss Steven Pressley fail to reach the heights of their debut campaign in the third tier, when the Cod Army finished in a respectable 10th place.

Hopes for next season will be fairly reserved at Highbury, then, particularly as they have already lost the likes of Shola Ameobi, vice-captain Antoni Sarcevic and goalkeeper Chris Maxwell this summer.

Their success could largely be down to whether striker Devante Cole - son of former Manchester United man Andy Cole - is able to follow in the footsteps of his father, having joined the club in January and proceeded to score twice in 14 appearances.

Bobby Grant is the main dangerman for the club having topped the scoring charts with 11 goals last season, and the Liverpool-born striker will be especially looking forward to the visit of his hometown club.

He is one of a number of players to have close ties with the Reds, along with fellow scouser Jimmy Ryan and right-back Conor McLaughlin - brother of Ryan McLaughlin, who ended his five-year stint at Anfield this summer.

This will be Fleetwood's first match of pre-season, and a good performance against a team of Liverpool's calibre could set the tone for a promising build-up to the new campaign.

Liverpool

© AFP

Liverpool's 2015-16 campaign was very much a mixed bag, with reasons for optimism coupled with disappointing outcomes in almost every competition.

The Reds did reach two cup finals but were beaten on both occasions, first by Manchester City in the League Cup and then by Sevilla in the Europa League showpiece.

In addition to that, they finished down in eighth place in the league table, six points adrift of the final Champions League place and a full 21 points behind surprise champions Leicester City.

Even so, there were some bright signs after Jurgen Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers in October, and if the German can use his first pre-season in charge of the club to cut out some of the inconsistencies that plagued their campaign last term then the Reds could find themselves right back in the top-four race.

Perhaps the main problem for Liverpool comes in the form of other teams splashing the cash. Manchester United have been the busiest of the big teams, already bringing in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly, while Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City have also strengthened.

Plenty more money is set to be spent in the coming weeks, and Klopp will be hoping that his own summer signings of Sadio Mane, Loris Karius and Joel Matip help the Reds to keep up with the pack.

It was a signing from last summer that made the difference in Liverpool's first pre-season match as Danny Ings scored the only goal of the game 11 minutes from time to seal a 1-0 victory over Merseyside rivals Tranmere Rovers.

A selection of youth and first-team players were involved in that match at Prenton Park, and Klopp is again expected to give a number of young players a chance on Wednesday as they look to prove themselves worthy of a place on the club's tour of the United States later this month.

Liverpool will take on the likes of Chelsea, AC Milan and Barcelona later in their pre-season campaign, so Klopp will be eager to use this match to nurse his players further towards full match fitness, with all eyes on their Premier League opener against Arsenal in just over a month's time.

Recent form: W

Team News

© Getty Images

Liverpool could welcome playmaker Philippe Coutinho back into the team after he returned to training on Monday following a disappointing Copa America campaign with Brazil.

The likes of Dejan Lovren, Lucas Leiva and Roberto Firmino all started against Tranmere, in addition to new signings Karius, Matip and Mane, and Klopp is likely to want to give his first-team players another run-out to build up fitness levels.

Ings may be hopeful of a start following his match-winning performance at Prenton Park, though, while Alberto Moreno and the returning Lazar Markovic will also be pushing for inclusion.

Teenagers Ovie Ejaria, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ben Woodburn will also want another chance to impress having all featured against Tranmere.

For Fleetwood, Pressley could look to test out the fitness levels of a number of his first-team players in their opening pre-season game, which could mean starts for the likes of Grant, McLaughlin and David Ball.

Fleetwood possible starting lineup:
Cairns; McLaughlin, Pond, Nilsson, Bell; Jonsson, Ryan, Grant, Ball, Haughton; Cole

Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Karius; Flanagan, Matip, Lovren, Moreno; Mane, Stewart, Chirivella, Markovic; Firmino; Ings

Head To Head

These two sides have met just once since Fleetwood's reform in 1997, with that coming in another pre-season friendly at Blackpool's Bloomfield Road in 2003.

Gerard Houllier's Liverpool side ran out 6-1 winners that day, with El-Hadji Diouf, Milan Baros (2), Bruno Cheyrou, John Welsh and Anthony Le Tallec all on the scoresheet.

The two clubs did face each other twice in the league way back in 1892 during Liverpool's formative months as a club, with the Reds thrashing Fleetwood Rangers 7-0 and 4-1 on their way to winning the Lancashire Senior League title on goal difference.

We say: Fleetwood 0-2 Liverpool

Liverpool should be a little bit further along in their preparations than Fleetwood, and with the superior quality at their disposal too, we can see the Premier League side picking up a second pre-season win on Wednesday.

Previews by email