Jurgen Klopp may need to consider a reshuffle of his squad over the next few fixtures ahead as both Alexis Mac Allister and Trent Alexander-Arnold are nearing suspensions for multiple yellow card bookings.
The Reds secured another comfortable victory at the weekend when Nottingham Forest paid a visit to Anfield and remain in strong contention to be part of the title race thanks to a positive run so far in the Premier League.
Liverpool are currently fourth in the league table and are just three points behind Tottenham Hotspur at the top of the tree, so continuing on their run of imperious form would be massively advantageous to keep the gap tight inside the top four.
The Merseyside giants will take on Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening and that will be followed by a clash with Luton Town at Kenilworth Road this weekend, a trip to Toulouse in the Europa League and then Brentford at Anfield before the international break.
During this time, Klopp will be wary about selecting newly-signed midfielder Alexis Mac Allister as he has tallied up four yellow cards over the last few months which means a fifth against Luton Town could see him suspended for the Brentford clash, or worse a yellow card against Brentford could see him unavailable for selection against Manchester City on the 25th of November.
Not only that, vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold is currently on three yellow cards so if he was to pick up a yellow card against both Luton and Brentford, he would have tallied up enough to see him suspended against the treble-winners too.
Our thoughts on Liverpool’s double suspension dilemma…
Whilst Alexander-Arnold’s suspension chances are not an urgent concern, Mac Allister has a stronger chance of being suspended for either the Brentford or the Man City game and the latter could be considered a disaster.
Indeed, Liverpool have rebuilt and developed a strong presence in the centre of the pitch with Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and Curtis Jones all showing consistency and glimpses of their incredible talent throughout the season so far.
However, it would not be ideal to lose the World Cup winner who has been a trusted member of Klopp’s starting eleven in most fixtures this season and will likely be a high priority choice when Liverpool meet with their Premier League title rivals later next month.
The worst case scenario would be for both the Argentine and Alexander-Arnold to pick up suspensions over the coming weeks, so potentially some rotation against Brentford or Luton could be advantageous in ensuring at least the club’s first choice right-back won’t have any chance of missing out at the Etihad.
With that being said, it will be interesting to see as to whether Klopp will run the risk of suspension for either player by including them in the starting line-up at Kenilworth road or will rotate in squad players to minimise the potential for either to miss out when they travel to Manchester in a few weeks time.
