Liverpool will host LASK in their penultimate Europa League clash at Anfield tonight and Jurgen Klopp could be set to make a number of changes to the starting eleven that took a point away from the Etihad Stadium last weekend.
The Reds are back in action tonight in front of the home support on the European stage and a victory over LASK this evening would confirm their progression to the knock-out stages of the Europa League.
The squad will be brimming with confidence after securing a much-needed point from their title rivals Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday, so it will be expected that they will take the positive mentality shown at the weekend into their clash this evening too.
In terms of injuries, it has been an unfortunate week for the Merseyside giants with both Alisson Becker and Diogo Jota picking up problems with the Liverpool boss taking to his pre-match press conference to give an insight into the timeframe of the pair’s absence.
“Both are out,” Klopp revealed.
“With Ali, it’s a bit lesser, so we have to see – not day by day, he will not play tomorrow, not on Sunday, probably not the week after. Then it should be kind of OK.”
“Diogo will take a little bit longer, we don’t know exactly how long, but it’s a bit more severe. We have to see.”
Jota and Alisson join Thiago Alcantara, Andrew Robertson and Stefan Bajcetic on the injury table and none of them will be available for the clash with LASK.
How could Liverpool line-up vs LASK?
We predict that the starting eleven will be heavily rotated with TEN changes to the team that started against Pep Guardiola’s side, maintaining a 4-3-3 formation.
In the defensive set-up we expect to see Caoimhin Kelleher replace the injured Alisson in goal, whilst only Joel Matip retains his spot in the back four alongside Kostas Tsimikas, Jarell Quansah and Joe Gomez.
In the centre of the pitch we expect to see a complete refresh with Wataru Endo in the defensive midfield role, whilst Harvey Elliott and Ryan Gravenberch will link up to support the attacking threat.
In the final third, we predict that there will be another reshuffle with young talent Ben Doak replacing Mohamed Salah on the right wing, Cody Gakpo coming in for Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz bringing the experience on the left wing to replace injured Jota.
With that being said, this game is a real opportunity for some of the fringe players to pick up some much-needed game time, whilst the youngsters will be given the chance to impress their German coach once again too.
