With some of his Liverpool team decisions, Jurgen Klopp has never been afraid to cause a stir. The Merseyside Derby is one matchup in particular that the Reds manager has a history of throwing curveballs in. The suspense surrounding who will start for the home team at Anfield on Saturday afternoon in the 243rd edition of English football’s most illustrious intra-district rivalry is understandable given this.
Following his controversial red card against Tottenham Hotspur last month, Curtis Jones is serving the second of a three-game suspension. Caoimhin Kelleher, Thiago Alcantara, and Stefan Bajcetic are also still suspended, and it’s uncertain whether Cody Gakpo will be available after missing nearly three weeks with a knee injury. Given their delayed returns from World Cup qualifying duty in South America and the possible health concerns surrounding Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister, and, to a lesser extent, Alisson Becker, Klopp will need to reorganize his squad and field the strongest lineup against an Everton team that is showing signs of improvement.
Left-back Kostas Tsimikas, defensive midfielder Wataru Endo, and forward Diogo Jota, who is available again following his one-match suspension at Brighton last time out, are ready to step in, with Harvey Elliott and Ryan Gravenberch vying hard for the starting position. One of the more amazing derby facts under Klopp is that his famed attacking trio of Firmino, Mane, and Salah only started together in three of the 12 derbies, and one of those was in a more advanced 4-2-3-1 formation with Shaqiri on the right and Salah down the middle.
There is a strong case for method in what appears to be madness given that Liverpool have lost just one of their last 17 local derbies under Klopp, and they have only lost to their opponents five times out of the 52 games that have occurred during the 21st Century. But when the team roster is released on Saturday, an hour before kickoff, there will undoubtedly still be cause for surprise.
