Confirmed Liverpool lineup & reaction as Reds hand out debut vs Preston North End

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Here’s the confirmed Liverpool lineup to face Preston North End in the EFL Cup today.

Liverpool don’t face lower-league opposition too often but they will tonight. The Reds travel to Deepdale to take on Preston North End in the EFL Cup.

It presents Jurgen Klopp and co. with an opportunity to rotate. This is the fourth-priority trophy, after all, while even a second-string side should trouble Preston.

Liverpool go into this after back-to-back intense games, too. They went to Atletico Madrid a week ago to play out a 3-2 win, while they ran themselves into the ground against Manchester United on Sunday.

Largely the same XI featured in both fixtures – now comes a chance to have a midweek off for some.

And, of course, this is Liverpool’s best chance to throw some youngsters onto the pitch at senior level. We got debuts for Kaide Gordon and Tyler Morton against Norwich City in the previous round.

Gordon is injured for this one and can’t play but Morton was one of those left out of the Liverpool Under 23s games on Monday.

So let’s see what the Reds have gone for.

Liverpool lineup vs Preston

Adrian

Neco Williams

Joe Gomez

Joel Matip

Kostas Tsimikas

Tyler Morton

Curtis Jones

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Harvey Blair

Takumi Minamino

Divock Origi

Some real surprises there. For one, everyone expected James Balagizi and Mateusz Musialowski after they didn’t play for the Under 23s on Monday.

Neither even makes the bench as Harvey Blair starts for a Liverpool debut. Morton, as expected, makes his first start for the Reds in holding midfield.

As for other notable selections, we weren’t positive that Klopp would pick both Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jones in the middle. They’re Liverpool’s only full-fit midfielders but both get a start here.

Reaction

Not the youngsters most predicted would get a game, then. Still, Blair is an exciting prospect as a left-winger and one we can’t wait to see here.

Morton, too, could really make a name for himself after impressing against Norwich.

A strange team but that was always going to be the case. Quite a few players will define their next month or so with their display.