It’s Liverpool against Newcastle United tomorrow night as The Reds hunt for back-to-back Premier League wins.
Anfield is once again the venue, with Liverpool looking for a positive follow up to their 9-0 mauling of Bournemouth on Saturday.
Eddie Howe’s current side will provide a much sterner test than his former one, though. The Toon are unbeaten in their four league games so far this season.
Here are the eleven players who we think Jurgen Klopp will task with making sure they don’t make it five without a loss.
Defence
Liverpool kept their first clean sheet in eight Premier League games at the weekend. Prior to the win over Bournemouth, the last team Liverpool stopped from scoring was Newcastle. Alisson Becker will be hoping for more of the same tomorrow.
Helping him to keep the Magpies out will once again be Joe Gomez and Virgil Van Dijk. After Joel Matip’s return to training, Gomez needs to take his chance to impress here.
On either flank Liverpool will have their first-choice full-backs. Trent Alexander-Arnold was great on Saturday while Andy Robertson was also much-improved. They’ll both go again.
Midfield
Midfield is where the change may come for Klopp. Had there been no issues, it’s likely that he may have gone with an unchanged side here. But alas, Harvey Elliott looks to have picked up a knock.
Klopp was delighted with Elliott’s display on Saturday, calling his goal ‘wonderful’ via BBC Sport. However, he came off at half-time and didn’t take part in full training on Monday.
Caution should be exercised with Fabio Carvalho slotting in to replace him. A well earned start for the Portuguese, who turns twenty today.
Curtis Jones is now available for selection, but Fabinho and Jordan Henderson are still likely to complete Liverpool’s midfield.
Attack
It’s still slim pickings for Liverpool in attack at the moment. Klopp has indicated that Diogo Jota will return to training this coming Thursday, but he won’t be available until then.
Darwin Nunez is serving the last game of his suspension, which means that Roberto Firmino will start up-front again.
With no other options, there are no prizes for guessing who will join Bobby in attack. Luis Diaz has hit three goals in three games and will be looking for more tomorrow night.
Finally, Mohamed Salah will be desperate to get on the scoresheet having failed to do so at the weekend.
Liverpool’s predicted XI vs Newcastle: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Carvalho; Salah, Firmino, Diaz
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