Liverpool's title defense, and indeed the Premier League season, begins on Friday night as Arne Slot's champions welcome Bournemouth to Anfield. The curtain raiser for England's top flight is certain to be a poignant moment as Liverpool pay tribute to Diogo Jota, who died along with his brother Andre Silva in a car accident last month. Players will don black armbands, as they will across the league on the opening day of the season, while the banners that were displayed at Wembley in Sunday's Community Shield are sure to be swelled by further tributes from the Kop and the rest of the ground.

Liverpool's players will doubtless be determined to mark their first game without their former team mate in the right fashion, though how a club processes playing on without a beloved member o

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