Liverpool are back in action this evening as they head to Goodison Park for the Merseyside Derby.
Having watched Arsenal hammer Chelsea last night, nothing but a win will do for the Reds on a ground they’ve struggled at under Jurgen Klopp.
But after Sunday’s win over Fulham, Liverpool finally feel back in a good place. With Everton still in relegation trouble, it’s a big game at both ends of the Premier League.
As a result, Klopp needs to go as strong as he possibly can with his starting line-up. After resting a number of big players at Craven Cottage, Liverpool should be ready to go. Klopp confirmed yesterday that Diogo Jota has suffered anther injury blow. Aside from that though, the Reds will be near full strength.
And according to pundit Paul Merson, the manager simply now has to bring back two of the players who started Sunday’s game from the bench.
Paul Merson urges Mohamed Salah return
There were some real surprises in Klopp’s team selection for the win over Fulham. But with the previous Thursday’s trip to Atalanta still in the first-team squad’s legs, it was necessary to rotate.
In the end, it’s pretty inarguable that the changes helped Liverpool. While the likes of Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah got a rest, others like Ryan Gravenberch took their opportunity. Everybody wins.
With the trip to Goodison the bigger game of those two games though, it would be wise for Klopp to go full strength again tonight.
And with that in mind, Merson has urged the boss to bring not just Salah back to the XI, but Darwin Nunez as well.
“Liverpool have more match-winners in their side which is why I’m going for an away win,” Merson told Sportskeeda, predicting a 2-1 victory for the Reds.
“Jurgen Klopp made a lot of changes to his starting XI last weekend, but I think the likes of Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez could return to the side for this one.”
Who else could play for Liverpool tonight
With Jota injured, it seems very likely that both £34m man Salah and Nunez will come back into the line-up for Liverpool.
We’d imagine that that would be alongside Luis Diaz, although Cody Gakpo has been doing well recently and could keep his place.
Further back, Mac Allister will surely return while it would be nice to see Gravenberch retained, too. After a pretty dismal cameo on Sunday, Dominik Szoboszlai may sit out again, with Curtis Jones coming in.
In defence, we’d expect to see Ibrahima Konate back after bench duty on Sunday, with the rest of the defence likely unchanged.
Big game tonight, Liverpool. Time for the big players to step up.