Here’s our predicted lineup as Liverpool prepare to face Leeds United at Elland Road. One £20m star will be absolutely vital.
To kick-off, we finally got the news last night that Liverpool can use Brazil players this weekend. That sorts two positions, at least.
An argument with the Brazilian FA put that in doubt but we now know that both Alisson Becker and Fabinho can start. The fact they’ve had two weeks off makes them both certainties for this one.
There’s a major factor to consider here, too. Liverpool start their Champions League campaign in midweek against AC Milan. Fresh off an international break, we expect a couple of rotations.
Alisson Becker
An easy one now we know he’s available. Alisson starts every Premier League game, of course.
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Alexander-Arnold didn’t play against Poland and should be fresh enough to start this one. A vital player as he looks to continue his red-hot start.
Joe Gomez
The first rotation. We think Jurgen Klopp may rotate here in order to have either Joel Matip or Virgil van Dijk available against Milan.
Virgil van Dijk
The way he’s started, we expect Van Dijk to play as often as possible. Perhaps he’ll rest against Milan, however.
Andy Robertson
We might see Kostas Tsimikas here but against a high-intensity Leeds, Robertson should probably play. His energy could be invaluable.
Fabinho
Fresh off two weeks rest, Fabinho surely starts.
Thiago
Leeds press high and hard – bringing in a ‘press resistant’ Thiago might be vital, then. He’s a magnificent passer and distributer and exactly what Marcelo Bielsa doesn’t want to see.
Harvey Elliott
It makes sense to add a more attack-minded midfielder if Fabinho is sitting and Thiago is dictating things from deep. There are several options but we’d stick with Elliott after his fine start to the season.
Sadio Mane
Injuries to Roberto Firmino and Takumi Minamino make this quite clear-cut. It’ll surely be the obvious front-three here.
Diogo Jota
Jota will have to play a centre-forward role, we imagine. There is a slight chance he moves wide and one of the others drift in, however.
Mohamed Salah
Salah bagged a hat-trick against Leeds at Anfield last season. Then he didn’t start at Elland Road as Liverpool drew 1-1. No chance he sits this one out, surely?
Liverpool fans reacted with glee as they got confirmation that Brazil players can feature this weekend. A long-running argument put that at risk.
Brazil players can feature in the Premier League this weekend. That’s according to Paul Joyce, among others.
There was a real risk that they wouldn’t be able to, of course. Liverpool refused to release Alisson Becker and Fabinho for Brazil duty because of UK Covid-19 restrictions.
Brazil is on the ‘Red list’, meaning anyone returning from there would need to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days. That, as Jurgen Klopp explained, could be massively problematic.
We went into detail on the situation here but suffice to say, the Brazilian FA was not happy. They pushed FIFA into enforcing the 5-day rule. That’s a ruling that suspends players for their next club game if they weren’t released for international duty.
But it appears FIFA will wave the rule for this weekend. They came to that decision very, very late on Friday evening ahead of the Premier League weekend.
And fans were ecstatic.
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