LIVERPOOL VS LEICESTER CITY: PREDICTED LINEUP

Liverpool are back in action tomorrow night they welcome former boss Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester side to Anfield for an 8pm GMT kickoff. The Reds are aiming for a fourth league win in row. Here’s the predicted lineup for the encounter.

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Jürgen Klopp thankfully reported no fresh injuries from the Villa game. He added that Konaté was back in contention after training with the squad all week. There was however no update on the fitness of Curtis Jones, with the young Scouser becoming a bit of a forgotten man this season.

Exciting new signing Cody Gakpo is unavailable for this one as the window doesn’t officially open until New Year’s Day, and even then, the bank holiday means the paperwork for his work permit and registration probably won’t go through in time for him to feature at Brentford either.

In terms of the XI to take the field against Leicester, there won’t be too many changes if any to the side that started at Villa Park on Monday night. The manager will still have half an eye on the trip to Brentford on Monday but it shouldn’t influence selection much.

We can expect to see the same back five of Alisson in goal, Alexander-Arnold at right back, Matip and Van Dijk in the heart of defence, and Robertson at left back. Any thoughts of rotation could and should be resisted. Konaté will surely he held back for the clash against Thomas Frank’s side.

In midfield, the Fabinho – Thiago partnership is still going strong. The side has a 79% win rate when those two start together in the middle of the park. We can expect them to start again here, with Henderson completing the triumvirate.

The skipper was excellent on Monday till about the hour mark when he looked completely shattered. He had overcome a bout of illness in the lead up to that game and should be raring to set the tempo infront of an Anfield crowd that has waited over six weeks to see their heroes in the flesh.

Up top, the Darwin – Salah axis will once more get an outing (hopefully with the big man finding his shooting boots). They will be joined by Oxlade-Chamberlain who put in a solid enough shift at Villa. With just six months remaining on his Liverpool deal, this is an opportunity for Ox to put himself in the shop window.

He will line up on the left wing and seek to drop deep to try and connect the midfield to the pacy duo upfront. The shape could morph into a bit of 4-4-2 at times due to the 29 year old’s versatility. It will be really interesting to see how Gakpo does in that left wing role in the coming weeks.

Until then though, Ox will be pressed into action. This is eerily similar to a brief spell in January where he came into the side for consecutive league games against Brentford and Palace with Mané and Salah away at AFCON.

He scored in each of those games, acquitting himself well before promptly falling back down the pecking order after a big money signing (Luis Diaz) arrived to take up the left wing spot.

Away from Ox, the likes of Keita, Elliott, Carvalho, Bajcetic and Doak will make do with a place on the bench. The latter duo came on to great effect last time out and will be hoping for same again tomorrow night.

Predicted team:

Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Thiago, Salah, Darwin, Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Subs: Kelleher, Gomez, Tsimikas, Konaté, Bajcetic, Keita, Elliott, Carvalho, Doak.