Arne Slot could omit four Liverpool players for Leicester City clash.
Liverpool team news ahead of the trip to Leicester City in the Premier League at the King Power Stadium.
Arne Slot could omit four Liverpool players for Leicester City clash
Arne Slot looks set to have virtually a full squad available as Liverpool could seal the Premier League title against Leicester City.
A victory for the Reds at the King Power Stadium, and a defeat for Arsenal at Ipswich Town earlier in the afternoon, will mean that Arne Slot’s side have officially won their 20th English championship.
And Liverpool face Leicester with Slot potentially having to omit four players from his match-day squad. That is because Trent Alexander-Arnold could be back after being absent for the past month with an ankle injury. He suffered his issue in the Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain.
Alexander-Arnold returned to training earlier this week and Slot admitted there’s a chance the vice-captain may be on the substitutes’ bench. Meanwhile, Darwin Nunez could also return to the fray. The striker was absent from last Sunday’s 2-1 win over West Ham United after feeling unwell the previous day. Nunez has also been photographed rubbing shoulders with his team-mates at the AXA Training Centre.
With Joe Gomez the only current player injured, Slot has decisions to make when it comes to his squad. Third-choice goalkeeper Viteslav Jaros was among the substitutes against West Ham and will make way. Meanwhile, midfield duo Tyler Morton and James McConnell represented the under-21s in a 2-2 draw against Aston Villa on Friday night. That suggests that they will not be involved against Leicester.
But there is a decision on the other member of the squad who will miss out against the Foxes, who will be relegated if they fail to yield a triumph. It could be a midfielder who misses out. Given that Wataru Endo or Harvey Elliott have not make a single league start, either could be in line. Or Slot could leave out one of his forwards. Federico Chiesa has played just four times in the league this term, so he could be the likeliest candidate.
Although Liverpool are on the verge of claiming the title, Slot insists he’s still not thinking about the silverware. Speaking at his pre-match press conference, the Dutchman said: “The honest answer is no. I’m not sure you believe me but that is the honest answer. My whole life I’m living in the moment, in the day, and I’m not looking backwards a lot and I’m not looking forwards a lot because it’s the type of person that I am, that I am not constantly looking back at what I have achieved at former clubs.
“That is also so difficult in football, people constantly tell you, ‘Try to enjoy it, try to enjoy the whole journey,’ but the only thing you are thinking about as a manager is, ‘Oh, at the weekend there is a game coming up as well and we need to win that and we need to win the next and we need to win the next.’ So, maybe that’s one of the reasons: because I’m already so long in football that you get used to the fact of living day by day and trying to influence day by day.”
