Blackburn Rovers vs. Liverpool: Team News, Preview, Live Stream, TV Info

Liverpool continue their pre-season preparations with a friendly against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Thursday ahead of their tour in the United States.

Jurgen Klopp's men were held to a 0-0 draw by League Two side Bury on Saturday after hanging on for a 3-2 win against Tranmere Rovers of the same division.

The Reds will be looking for a convincing win over Blackburn ahead of sterner tests against Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and Manchester United.

But Tony Mowbray's newly promoted Championship team will be no pushovers.

Date: Thursday, July 18

Time: 7:45 p.m. BST, 2:45 p.m. ET

TV Info: LFCTV (UK)

Live Stream: LFCTV Go

The most notable event in Liverpool's pre-season has been goalkeeper Loris Karius' clanger at Tranmere when he spilled a routine save and the Reds conceded as a result.

It was reminiscent of the second of two huge mistakes he made in May when Liverpool lost 3-1 to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League final.

The German managed 45 minutes largely untroubled against Bury before being taken off.

But it is almost guaranteed Blackburn will look to prey on Karius' likely lack of confidence, and he will need to be prepared to field plenty of long shots and being pressured at set pieces.

Summer signings Naby Keita and Fabinho are set to be in action again at Ewood Park.

Nathan Stirk/Getty Images

Liverpool's latest purchase, Xherdan Shaqiri, is still on a break after appearing for Switzerland at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and Klopp confirmed he—along with Roberto Firmino, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane—will not join the squad until they are in the U.S., per the club's official website (h/t Rich Sharpe of the Lancashire Telegraph):

"Xherdan has been in, which was nice. He is a nice fella. He will be back in the USA. Hopefully he will now take a holiday there because it will be pretty easy to join us there. He will not come with us (from Liverpool) but he can be involved, which will be nice.

"Salah and Mane will come to America with us, but they come back the 20th and we fly the 20th. It makes not too much sense that they play the 22th or the 25th. Maybe three days later in 'the derby' they can play. 

"It’s good that they can come. Bobby Firmino is coming back after that, Xherdan Shaqiri is coming, and the last ones are the Belgium and England players. Then after the 5th we can prepare for the season."

Pre-season friendlies rarely provide a whole picture of what a team will look like when competitive matches get under way.

But the key things for Klopp and Liverpool against Blackburn will be for Karius to try to rebuild his confidence and the new signings to continue their integration.

Blackburn are more than capable of causing the Reds problems. They scored 82 goals in League One last season and will be eager to claim a huge scalp such as that of Liverpool.