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Having captured a 20th top-flight title in Slot's first campaign at the helm, Liverpool faces FA Cup victor Palace at Wembley Stadium in English football's traditional curtain-raiser on Monday (AEST).

The Reds will do so with a very different squad to that which dethroned Manchester City last season.

Liverpool has brought in Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez in a spending spree that has topped £260 million ($535.5 million), while it is reportedly eyeing a Premier League record swoop for Alexander Isak.

The Reds have seen Trent Alexander-Arnold leave for Real Madrid on a free transfer, while Darwin Nunez appears likely to follow Luis Diaz, Jarell Quansah and Caoimhin Kelleher through the exit door.

Amid the upheaval, Slot is welcoming the chance to start 2025-2026 with Liverpool's 17th Community Shield, which would draw it level with Arsenal for second in the all-time charts – five of Liverpool's titles are shared, compared to one for the Gunners.

Slot said: "It is nice if you can start the season with the chance of winning something. Normally you have to play numerous games before you can win something.

"If it's the League Cup, FA Cup, let alone the Premier League or [UEFA] Champions League, normally you win something at the end of the season. Now we have a chance to win something in the beginning of the season.

"Unfortunately, we face a very good Crystal Palace that have been very difficult to win against for us, because we played a 1-1 against them in the last game of the season.

"They showed in the last final, and even in the semi-final, how difficult it is to win a one-off game against them.

"I think most of the players that they have are still there, so we even more reason to know what a difficult team it is to play against."

While Slot is wary of the challenge posed by Palace, its boss Oliver Glasner has outlined his frustration at the club's lack of transfer activity, with Borna Sosa and Walter Benitez, who are both likely to be squad players, their only incomings thus far.

"We have been quite passive in the transfer window. We have to add a few players to be ready for all the competitions," Glasner said.

"Eddie Nketiah has missed more or less the whole pre-season, and he will be out for around eight weeks.

"We are short of numbers. If we want to be competitive, we have to add players with good quality."

Glasner confirmed on Friday that Eberechi Eze, who is the subject of interest from Arsenal, will play against Liverpool, and after netting the winner against City in the FA Cup final, he could have another major impact.

Palace has won four of its six matches at the new Wembley when used as a neutral venue, losing the others against Manchester United (2016 FA Cup final) and Chelsea (2022 FA Cup semi-final).

The FA Cup winner has also beaten the Premier League winner in seven of the past nine Community Shields which did not feature a double-winning team from the previous season.