Liverpool face the second of their double-header against Brighton on Saturday as they return to action in the Premier League.
The Reds will be hoping to get back to winning ways in the league having drawn against Arsenal last time out.
The Seagulls provided stiff opposition in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, though, and they’ll be expected to do the same at Anfield this weekend.
Despite defeat against Liverpool in midweek, Fabian Hurzeler has led his team to sixth place so far, picking up some impressive results along the way.
Arne Slot looks likely to make a host of changes once more having swapped out eight players for the trip to the South Coast.
And as the big names prepare to return to the line-up here’s the XI we think Slot is set to put out for the 3pm kick-off.
Defence
Vitezslav Jaros showed that Liverpool have three excellent goalkeepers with his display against Brighton on Wednesday, but he’ll make way for Caoimhin Kelleher for this one.
As well as bringing Kelleher in, we expect that Slot will actually change the whole of his back five.
That will see Trent Alexander-Arnold come in for Conor Bradley, Ibrahima Konate for Jarell Quansah and Virgil van Dijk for Joe Gomez.
Meanwhile, the most notable swap of the day feels likely to come at left-back. Andy Robertson looks like he’s lost his place in Slot’s best XI and we think Kostas Tsimikas will be the beneficiary of that.
Midfield
It has been clear all season up to this point who Slot sees as his first choice midfield.
The Liverpool head coach has shuffled things around as the fixture list has become a little squeezed, but by and large we know the three he wants on the pitch for the big games.
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And having broken the trio up for the Carabao Cup, we think Slot will restore Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai at Anfield.
Curtis Jones is perhaps a little unlucky to miss out. Jones was ‘brilliant’ against Chelsea two weeks ago but we don’t think he’s kicked on enough in the three matches since. He’ll drop to the bench.
Attack
Slot has confirmed that Federico Chiesa is still injured in the run up to this game and Diogo Jota is unavailable, too.
As a result, there are four Liverpool forwards trying to fit into three places.
Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez are the two who are very much nailed on to start having only been introduced late on Wednesday.
As for the last spot, Cody Gakpo deserves it after his double – even if Luis Diaz did get on the scoresheet too – and his 71st minute substitution at the Amex would suggest that Slot thinks so too.
Liverpool’s predicted XI vs Brighton: Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Salah, Nunez, Gakpo
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