Arne Slot set to recall ‘excellent’ Liverpool player back to the starting XI vs RB Leipzig

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Liverpool have landed in Leipzig looking to extend their perfect record in the Champions League this season.

The Reds have so far seen off Italian pair AC Milan and Bologna to give themselves six points out of six in the new-look competition.

Next up for Liverpool is a German double-header. RB Leipzig are their opponents on Wednesday before Xabi Alonso returns to Anfield with Bayer Leverkusen in a fortnight.

Leipzig will not be an easy game for the Reds. Although Marco Rose’s team have lost both of their first two Champions League fixtures, they are unbeaten in the Bundesliga’s opening seven matches.

With Liverpool coming off the back of a tough Premier League test against Chelsea on Sunday and looking ahead to another one against Arsenal, Arne Slot is going to have to rotate a little but still maintain a good standard in the XI.

The Liverpool head coach certainly has a number of important decisions to make over who plays where on Wednesday. And according to early reports, Slot has already made at least one call.

Darwin Nunez set for Liverpool start

With the hectic nature of Liverpool’s fixture list at the moment, Slot could really do with having a full Liverpool squad to pick from.

However, as ever, that is not going to be the case on Wednesday. Five Liverpool players missed training on Tuesday, leaving the Reds ever so slightly short in such a crucial period.

One of those who has not travelled to Leipzig as a result of injury is Diogo Jota.

Jota landed awkwardly following a tangle with Tosin Adarabioyo during the weekend clash with Chelsea and has not been passed fit in time to face Die Rotenbullen.

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The Portuguese was replaced by Darwin Nunez on half an hour against the Blues and after Nunez did well for the remainder of the game there had been a feeling that he could get another chance in midweek.

And according to The Athletic, that will be the case. They claim that there is an ‘expectation’ that Nunez will lead the line for Liverpool in the Champions League.

The Reds are said to have been pleased that the 25-year-old got 180 minutes under his belt during the recent international break and with Nunez now looking more sharp he looks likely to get the nod in Leipzig.

Who else could start for Liverpool?

Nunez for Jota is unlikely to be the only change Slot makes to his line-up for Wednesday’s game.

Predicting Liverpool’s XI to face RB Leipzig is quite tricky given the looming presence of Sunday’s big match with Arsenal and the reality of several injuries flaring up.

Nevertheless, we expect that Slot will give Jarell Quansah a chance at centre-back to allow either Virgil van Dijk or, more probably, Ibrahima Konate to get a rest.

Switches will possibly come in midfield as well, where Alexis Mac Allister seems likely to come back in for either Ryan Gravenberch or Dominik Szoboszlai. Up top, we’d expect Luis Diaz to return along with Nunez.

Darwin has fluffed his lines a little when trusted so far this season. However, Andy Robertson called Nunez’ excellent’ recently and if Sunday’s performance is anything to go by, then he could be about to serve up something even further improved against Leipzig.