Liverpool head coach Arne Slot admits he has doubts over the availability of two Reds players ahead of the weekend showdown with Chelsea.
The Merseysiders return to Premier League action on Sunday afternoon, hosting the Blues in one of the most eagerly-anticipated games of the season so far.
Liverpool are definitely without Alisson and Harvey Elliott for the game, and potentially Wataru Endo and Federico Chiesa, but there are also doubts with others leading up to kickoff.
Speaking in his pre-Chelsea press conference on Friday [via This Is Anfield], Slot admitted that Alexis Mac Allister and Kostas Tsimikas won’t definitely feature this weekend, having not been fully available for their countries during the international break:
“We’ve got quite [a few] issues from players coming back from the national teams. We can only judge that perfectly today because it is the first time they are all in, and the first time they are all training together again. Let’s see after the session where everybody is.
“Macca missed one game, played the second one. Kostas missed out in the first game against England. I can name them all but we’ve got a few issues going on, but let’s wait and see.”
Our thoughts on Mac Allister and Tsimikas facing Chelsea…
While Slot is rightly being cautious ahead of the weekend action, it would still be a surprise if Mac Allister didn’t start against Chelsea, having proven his fitness for Argentina earlier in the week.
The Dutchman has been hesitant to break up his go-to midfield trio of the Argentine, Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai this season, and that will surely again apply against tough opposition.
As for Tsimikas, he remains very much second in the left-back pecking order behind Andy Robertson – Joe Gomez is arguably as strong an option as the Greek in that position, too – so it would be a shock to see him start at home to the Blues anyway.
Elsewhere, Caoimhin Kelleher will come in for Alisson, but Liverpool should otherwise have a similar XI to the one that has generally taken to the field this season, including Ibrahima Konate partnering Virgil van Dijk at centre-back, and Diogo Jota leading the line in between Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz.