Arne Slot has some big decisions to make in midfield and attack as he selects his Liverpool team to take on RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League.
The head coach led his squad through their final pre-match training session today, when there were some notable absentees.
Diogo Jota was not among the players seen on the club’s live stream, two days after he was substituted just 30 minutes into Sunday’s 2-1 win over Chelsea. Slot said after that game he’d “be surprised if he is there on Wednesday.”
Slot is therefore likely to have one enforced change in his line-up, with Darwin Nunez – who acquitted himself well as Jota’s replacement on Sunday, albeit without scoring – being the obvious candidate to come into the side.
Luis Diaz and Alexis Mac Allister also played as subs against Chelsea, as Slot eased them back into domestic duty after their long-haul exploits with Colombia and Argentina during the international break.
Both South Americans have been regular starters for Slot of course, so the man in charge must decide whether to recall them in his strongest available XI or persevere with Cody Gakpo – the creator of Jota’s pre-break winner at Crystal Palace – on the left and Curtis Jones in midfield alongside the currently undroppable Ryan Gravenberch.
TWO HUGE TESTS IN FIVE DAYS
While maintaining a 100 per cent start to the Champions League campaign is a key objective when Liverpool travel to Germany, the subsequent trip to north London at the weekend is surely a much bigger priority.
The chance to beat Arsenal in their own backyard on Sunday afternoon, and go seven points clear of them in the Premier League title race, could well influence Slot’s selection against RB Leipzig.
The expanded format of the Champions League means Liverpool would have plenty of opportunities to make up for any points lost in Leipzig, but there remains little margin for error in England’s top flight.
Manchester City are very likely to be back on top of the table again by Saturday night, given they host winless Southampton in the afternoon. To reclaim pole position against an Arsenal side driven to right the wrongs of their shock 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth, Slot will want to field his very best XI at Emirates Stadium.
More changes therefore seem inevitable against RB Leipzig, with Joe Gomez, Kostas Tsimikas and Jarell Quansah all ready to give Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Andy Robertson a rest in front of Caoimhín Kelleher, who continues in place of the injured Alisson.
Replacing all of the regular back four has been rendered unlikely by Conor Bradley joining Jota in being absent from training. Trent Alexander-Arnold is set to continue at right-back and could wear the captain’s armband if Van Dijk sits this one out.
In midfield, we fancy Jones to continue ahead of Mac Allister, with the Argentinian then fully returning for the Arsenal blockbuster. Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai would complete the midfield trio with Sunday’s Man of the Match.
As for the attack, Federico Chiesa‘s continued absence from training limits Slot’s options, and we think he’ll go with Gakpo, Nunez and Mohamed Salah, with Diaz kept on the bench against Leipzig so he’s fresh enough to terrorise Arsenal.
All in all that will make it four changes in total from Liverpool’s starting XI against Chelsea.
