Liverpool v Chelsea: Team news
Liverpool will make at least one change for Wednesday's Carabao Cup third-round tie against Chelsea at Anfield, with Simon Mignolet set to start in goal.
The custodian will replace Alisson Becker between the posts for the Reds for his first appearance of the season in the only piece of confirmed team news Jürgen Klopp divulged during his pre-match media briefing.
The manager was quizzed on whether he’d be tempted to make multiple alterations to his line-up for the fixture, particularly given a Premier League meeting with the Blues at Stamford Bridge on Saturday is followed by clashes with Napoli and Manchester City.
However, Klopp refused to be drawn on what kind of starting XI he is set to field other than confirming it will be a ‘really strong side’.
The boss will need to assess the condition of Virgil van Dijk, who aggravated a rib injury during the weekend win over Southampton and was subsequently forced from the field.
Dominic Solanke is back in contention after suffering a concussion when representing the U23s recently, while Klopp reported that Dejan Lovren is making good progress in his rehabilitation from a pelvis issue.
Liverpool will be without Adam Lallana and Divock Origi, both of whom are not too far away from returning to full training after groin and ankle issues respectively.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Pedro and Antonio Rudiger are all doubts for the game due to injury but Eden Hazard will be included in the Chelsea squad, assistant manager Gianfranco Zola confirmed at his pre-match press conference.
Gary Cahill and Andreas Christensen are two players pushing for an opportunity at Anfield while youngsters Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ethan Ampadu could be deployed by Blues boss Maurizio Sarri.
The visitors are considering changes to their line-up at Anfield but, like Liverpool, will not allow the league fixture that follows on Saturday to distract them from this tie.
“It is an important game. We are Chelsea Football Club and we want to try to win all our games. We are going to take it seriously,” said Zola.
“It is not the Premier League, we know, but because of who we are, what we are, we want to play the best we can. It’s an opportunity to see players who didn’t have many games so far, but it will still be a good team.
“The game on Saturday is going to be huge, the type of game that means a lot. But I think starting from tomorrow it’s going to be competitive. We are greedy, we want to win both of them if we can.”
Last time out…
Liverpool v Southampton, September 22: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson, Wijnaldum, Henderson, Shaqiri, Mane, Salah, Firmino.
West Ham United v Chelsea, September 23: Kepa, Rudiger, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Alonso, Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, Willian, Hazard, Giroud.