By winning its early match against Wolves at Molineux, Liverpool might reclaim the top spot in the Premier League standings—at least for a short while, until Manchester City takes on West Ham United and Tottenham faces Sheffield United.
With less than 24 hours until the start of the game, South American players on Jürgen Klopp’s team Alisson Becker, Alexis Mac Allister, Darwin Nez, and Luis Dáz will be back, the manager expressed his displeasure with the decision to move the match into the first slot of the weekend for television purposes.
Alisson did not play for Brazil, so he should be able to join the team right away, but the other three players require selections. Liverpool at least has other options with Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo in the attack.Wataru End, Curtis Jones, and Dominik Szoboszlai are all viable choices for the center position for Liverpool should Mac Allister be unable to play. During the international break, Stefan Bajetti made his return after a five-month injury layoff by playing for Spain’s U21 team, but it seems unlikely that he would be used right away in this situation.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is out with a hamstring injury and Virgil van Dijk is suspended, so Liverpool will likely need to insert Ibrahima Konaté right away after he has recovered from his own problems.Jol Matip might continue to play in the middle of the defense while Joe Gomez switches to right back, but a strategy to replace Alexander-Arnold’s inventiveness will be necessary because Gomez will approach the position quite differently.
Andy Robertson appears a lock to start, and Klopp is more likely to make changes when Liverpool plays LASK in the Europa League on Thursday. It is conceivable that Kostas Tsimikas and Harvey Elliott will receive a chance at that point.
Here is a complete list of the players the manager has at his disposal as the Reds attempt to win their fourth straight league game on Saturday.
Goalkeepers: Adrián, Caoimhn Kelleher, and Alisson Becker.
Defenders: Andy Robertson, Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konaté, Virgil van Dijk, and Kostas Tsimikas.
Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru End, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, and Stefan Bajetti are among the midfielders.Forwards: Diogo Jota, Darwin Nez, Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, and Luis Dáz.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Thiago Alcântara are the injured athletes.
