Liverpool will kick-off their pre-season preparations with a friendly against Preston on July 13.

NEWCASTLE are facing a players' backlash over the decision to let on-loan Lomana LuaLua play and score against them for Portsmouth but manager Bobby Robson insists: "It was nothing to do with me."

Newcastle defender Jonathan Woodgate is out of tomorrow’s Barclaycard Premiership clash with Middlesbrough as he battles a groin problem.