Liverpool are back in Premier League action for the first time in three weeks tomorrow.
Having had to sit and stew on the FA Cup loss against Manchester United a fortnight ago, the Reds can finally put things right. A win against Brighton would take them back to the top of the Premier League.
With all the news of who will and will not be Liverpool’s manager next season, it’ll be nice to get back to the actual football.
So, with nothing but a win acceptable for the Reds, here’s the XI we think Jurgen Klopp will send out.
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Liverpool’s predicted XI vs Brighton
With a handful of players still injured, Klopp has some straightforward decisions to make with his line-up at Anfield. One of those is to keep Caoimhin Kelleher in-between the sticks.
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s continued absence means that Liverpool have to play a second-choice at right-back, too. On this occasion, we think the manager will opt to keep Joe Gomez in over Conor Bradley.
Having seemingly been passed fit to play again, Ibrahima Konate should partner Virgil van Dijk at centre-back, with the Reds’ top partnership back in tandem.
Meanwhile, there’s another problem at left-back. Andy Robertson’s injury is not as bad as first feared, but he won’t be fit for this one. Kostas Tsimikas should instead return for his first Premier League start since December 23rd.
In midfield, it seems likely that Klopp will opt to field his strongest trio. With doubt still lingering over Curtis Jones, that should mean Wataru Endo, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai get consecutive starts.
Up front we don’t expect to see any changes from Jurgen, either. As a result, Mohamed Salah will continue his return to the team, with Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz alongside him.
Who else could start for Liverpool
This is the XI that we fully expect Klopp to go with tomorrow. However, there are a couple of players who could count themselves a little unlucky to miss out.
Ryan Gravenberch is one of the few players who were not involved in international duty over the past fortnight. As a result, the 21-year-old might be an outside shot given his freshness.
One who did feature for his country – and played very well indeed – is Harvey Elliott. The youngster has been excellent recently and has three goals in three matches for club and country. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see Elliott given the nod.
The only other player potentially pushing for a start is Cody Gakpo. However, we don’t think Cody has done quite enough to earn it.
Liverpool’s predicted XI vs Brighton: Kelleher; Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Endo, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister; Salah, Nunez, Diaz