Liverpool’s predicted XI vs Tottenham as Arne Slot makes big decision over centre-forward and seven players drop out

Add as preferred source on Google

Liverpool return to Premier League action on Sunday after making the Carabao Cup semi-finals in midweek.

The Reds beat Southampton away from home on Wednesday and will be back down South for the visit to Tottenham at the weekend.

Arne Slot has some decisions to make ahead of the game, with the Liverpool head coach desperate for a Premier League win after back-to-back draws.

Here’s the XI we think Slot will pick at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Liverpool go in search of a first win in three.

Defence

Caoimhin Kelleher banished the ghosts of his mistake against Newcastle with a good display at Southampton. The Irishman has two legs of a semi-final to look forward to, but Alisson Becker will return in the meantime.

Slot confirmed that Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley are still missing, with the two defenders the only players not available for Sunday’s game.

Happily, that means Slot has full options to choose from at left-back, where we think the out-of-form Andy Robertson will get another chance.

At centre-back Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk will go again in the absence of Konate.

Without Bradley, Slot has had to be creative at right-back when needing to rest Trent Alexander-Arnold.

But with a good 45 minute showing at Southampton under his belt, there’ll be no need to leave Trent out for this one.

Midfield

Slot has some interesting calls to make in midfield, with Alexis Mac Allister finally back from suspension.

Wednesday was a good game for Mac Allister to come back into and although he wasn’t at his best, he should be back up to speed to go again at Spurs.

READ MORE: Darren Bent explains why he thinks Liverpool are about to ‘carve through Tottenham’ on Sunday

Ryan Gravenberch will also come back in after being left out of the matchday squad at St Mary’s. One yellow card away from a suspension, Gravenberch will have to be careful in North London.

Slot will then have to pick between Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai and maybe even a revitalised Wataru Endo. If it were us, we’d pick Szoboszlai, and we think the boss will as well.

Attack

For the first time in nearly three months, Liverpool can call upon all six of their senior attacking options for this one – and even more besides.

Jayden Danns has looked sharp in training and it would be nice to see the 18-year-old get some minutes at some stage.

That seems possible only in that Slot doesn’t look to have made a decision on who he likes best at centre-forward just yet. Darwin Nunez scored on Wednesday but also played 90 minutes, making it seem unlikely that he’ll be in for this one.

Diogo Jota may not be quite ready for a start either, so we think Slot will go with plan C and put Luis Diaz through the middle.

Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo should complete the line-up, with Nunez, Jota, Federico Chiesa and perhaps Danns providing firepower in reserve.