Liverpool will host Norwich City at Anfield this afternoon in their fourth-round FA Cup clash, and it will be the first time that Jurgen Klopp leads out his squad after announcing that he will leave the club at the end of the season.
It has been a surreal 48 hours for Liverpool supporters worldwide since the club revealed an interview with Jurgen Klopp, where the German coach confirmed his nine-year reign on Merseyside will end this summer.
The Champions League and Premier League winning manager broke the hearts of the Anfield faithful when he confirmed that he would take a year out to slow down after many successful years with the Reds.
Now the Kop will be able to show their appreciation in the upcoming fixture with Norwich, which will incidentally see Klopp come up against one of his best friends in the Canaries’ coach David Wagner.
In terms of availability and injuries, Trent Alexander-Arnold was spotted back in full training on Friday after suffering a knee injury; however, it is unclear whether the vice-captain will be available for selection today.
Andy Robertson and Dominik Szoboszlai are also not shoo-ins for a start after Klopp described the pair as “touch and go” during his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.
Joel Matip, Thiago Alcantara, Stefan Bajcetic and Kostas Tsimikas remain ruled out of the clash, whilst Mohamed Salah continues his rehabilitation after suffering an injury at AFCON and Wataru Endo continues to compete in the Asian Cup.
How could Liverpool line up vs Norwich?
We predict that Klopp will make three changes to the starting eleven he led out against Fulham in the Carabao Cup semi-final midweek but will maintain his classic 4-3-3 formation setup.
We expect to see Alisson Becker reprise his role in goal, replacing Caoimhin Kelleher, who put on a fantastic performance to secure Liverpool’s spot in the EFL Cup final at Wembley, while the defence will remain unchanged.
We predict that the second change will come in the centre of the pitch, with Curtis Jones linking with Harvey Elliott in the more advanced roles while Alexis Mac Allister will operate in the six role behind.
The third and final change we expect to see is Diogo Jota replacing Luis Diaz in the final third, while Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo will start alongside him in hope that the trio can deliver and pull off an early lead.
With that being said, whilst it would be potentially advantageous to rotate more heavily ahead of their Premier League clash with Chelsea, Klopp will want to respect the competition, his opponents and avoid any chance of a replay at Carrow Road so will go stronger than anticipated.
