Liverpool are back in Premier League action tomorrow as struggling Sheffield United come to town.
The Reds could be in first, second or even third place by the time their game kicks off on Thursday evening. With Manchester City and Arsenal in action tonight, they’ll be hoping for favours from Aston Villa and Luton Town.
Even if those don’t arrive though, it feels unlikely that Liverpool will necessarily need them. The Blades are rock bottom of the Premier League and have been on a wretched run of form. The Reds are heavy favourites.
You never know though, and Liverpool do still have injuries to contend with. At the very least they’ll have to make do without Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota and Alisson Becker.
There could be good news in the shape of a return for Curtis Jones, mind you. And according to journalist David Lynch, another player could come back into the Liverpool starting line-up besides.
Liverpool given boost for Sheffield United
Slowly, Liverpool are starting to get their full first-team squad back available. There’s obviously still a few missing, but they’re in a much better place than they were just a couple of weeks ago.
Jones’ return – along with Ryan Gravenberch coming all the way back – will mark another win for the Reds in that respect.
Another who has been missing of late is centre-back Ibrahima Konate. Konate hadn’t played for a couple of weeks before bafflingly being called up by France during the international break. After playing a full 90 minutes for Les Bleus on Tuesday, the 24-year-old sat out of Liverpool’s weekend win over Brighton.
That was an incredibly frustrating situation and led to suggestions that Konate is not completely fit again. However, speaking on his YouTube channel yesterday, Lynch reported that there may have been another reason for the defender’s omission on Sunday.
“I think as much as the fact that he played for France was a consideration in not putting him in the team against Brighton, I also think Jurgen Klopp had one eye on the idea that he’s going to have to go Thursday, Sunday.” says the journalist. “He didn’t want Konate, with the history of muscle issues he’s got, to go Sunday, Thursday, Sunday. That’s a big ask for a player with his injury record and you want to keep him fit at this stage of the season.
“I think that decision was taken with the idea that Konate will play the next two. So, I expect him to be in for this Sheffield United game and then also at Old Trafford at the weekend.”
Who else could play for Liverpool tomorrow
It’s unlikely that Jurgen Klopp will too many more changes for the visit of Sheffield United tomorrow. However, we do think there might be a couple.
As well as Konate coming in for Jarell Quansah, we can see Kostas Tsimikas starting at left-back, with Conor Bradley dropping out.
There could be a change in midfield as Klopp looks to keep Alexis Mac Allister fit for Sunday’s trip to Old Trafford. We reckon there might be a start for Gravenberch instead.
Finally, there’s likely to be a switch in the forward line, with either Darwin Nunez or Luis Diaz falling out in place of Cody Gakpo.