Dejan Lovren is expected to start in the Liverpool defence for their showdown against Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday, according to The Athletic journalist James Pearce.
The former Liverpool Echo reporter claimed via a Q&A session on The Athletic’s website on Tuesday that he expects Lovren, 30, to start alongside Virgil van Dijk due to Joel Matip’s injury and the fact that Joe Gomez played in the 2-1 win against Genk.
“No chance of Matip being fit for Sunday. He should be back after the international break along with [Xherdan] Shaqiri. I’d expect Lovren to start alongside Van Dijk on Sunday,” said Pearce.
Lovren has been on the fringes of the Liverpool squad this season, earning just five appearances across all competitions.
OPINION
Liverpool fans might be a bit worried by the fact that Lovren is expected to start this weekend. Matip’s injury is a massive blow for the Reds because he has arguably been in better form than van Dijk over the course of the campaign so far and Jurgen Klopp is bound to miss the colossal Cameroon international. Liverpool have kept just one clean sheet in any of the games that Lovren has played this season and that was against League One side MK Dons in the Carabao Cup. Liverpool are leaking goals regularly this season and have not kept a clean sheet in the Premier League since the 1-0 win at Sheffield United in September. On the whole, the Reds have not really clicked as much as many would have expected this season, but they are still top of the league and grinding out narrow wins. It’s going to be very tough to not play well and win against Man City this weekend.
