Oldham Athletic are back at Boundary Park tonight as they take on Liverpool U21s in the first group match of the Leasing.com Trophy (7pm).
Latics suffered defeat last time out to Forest Green Rovers, but Head Coach Laurent Banide is looking forward to a game against a strong academy side.
“They’re a big team and it has a great academy, it’s a fantastic club, we know the potential of the academy at Liverpool so we must prepare and work well.” He said.
“Every time we must push a level and try to find a solution against our opponent.”
Banide may rotate his squad for this competition, but he will definitely be without Tomas Egert and Marvin Kokos is still a doubt for Latics.
New signing Ashley Smith-Brown is in line to make his debut for the club.
As for our opponents Liverpool U21s, it is the first time they’ve entered the competition, so there could be an unknown quality arriving at Boundary Park tonight.
Liverpool are the current holders of the U18s FA Youth Cup after defeating Manchester City in the final last season.
The sides have never met before, but last time Latics faced the first team of Liverpool, it ended in a 2-0 defeat in the FA Cup back in January 2014.
Our last victory over Liverpool came 12 months prior to that last fixture as a double from Matt Smith and a Reece Wabara goal secured the win for Oldham.
Oldham Athletic are priced at 13/8 to beat Liverpool U21s tonight.
Ian Cheeseman and Roy Butterworth will be on iFollow Latics for supporters who cannot make the game.
Oldham Athletic supporters in the UK will be able to watch this evening’s match live for £10 via iFollow Latics.