Liverpool face their second tricky home game with four days as West Ham United head to Anfield in the Carabao Cup.
It represents a decent chance for Liverpool to make it to the semi-finals. However, with Arsenal to come on Saturday, Jurgen Klopp needs to rotate his team. Here’s the XI we expect to see on Wednesday night.
Defence
Although Klopp may be tempted to stick the best goalkeeper in the world in nets for West Ham’s visit, there’s no reason not to expect Caoimhin Kelleher to continue in the Carabao Cup.
The reason the manager may feel he needs Alisson Becker is because it’s set to be a mix and match defence in-front of Caoimhin.
With rests needed for Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk, we’d expect to see a centre-back partnership of Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah.
That should see Conor Bradley come in for a big game at right-back. Meanwhile, we reckon Klopp attempts for some continuity with Kostas Tsimikas at left-back.
Midfield
What to do in midfield against the buoyant Hammers is a little bit of a problem for the boss tomorrow. Of his eight senior midfield options, Klopp now has four of them on the treatment table.
Of the four left, Dominik Szoboszlai badly needs a rest, while Wataru Endo went 90 minutes of Sunday. With Arsenal in mind, we don’t think either will be risked.
Instead, we see the manager doing something he’s never done before and brining Trent Alexander-Arnold into midfield from the start.
It would be a big call from Jurgen, as Trent could also do with a rest. But the 25-year-old is a reliable option fitness-wise and would relish running the midfield.
Described as ‘amazing’ recently by Newcastle United’s Dan Burn, Liverpool’s No.66 could finally get his chance to shine centrally.
With Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott alongside him, it would be an all-Liverpool supporting trio. You don’t see that very often.
Attack
Just like the midfield, Klopp has a couple of issues in attack. Mainly, who does he want to risk ahead of Saturday.
None of Liverpool’s fit forward quartet are in great form, but we can’t manage with another injury. Unfortunately, Pep Lijnders confirmed today that’s that exactly what we have, with Ben Doak needing surgery.
As a result, we think Klopp will stick 19-year-old Kaide Gordon back in, leaving Mohamed Salah on the bench. Cody Gakpo will almost definitely return, and we think Luis Diaz will be the one to keep his place.
Liverpool’s predicted XI vs West Ham: Kelleher; Bradley, Gomez, Quansah, Tsimikas; Alexander-Arnold, Elliott, Jones; Doak, Gakpo, Diaz
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