Trent Alexander-Arnold will be unavailable when Liverpool take on Fulham in the EFL Cup semi-final first leg on Wednesday.
Liverpool have a bit of an injury crisis heading into the crucial EFL Cup semi-final first leg against Fulham on Wednesday night. They were already without Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic who will return to action in February. Joel Matip has been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Andrew Robertson has started recovery work, but he is not expected back any time soon. Wataru Endo and Mohamed Salah are away on international duty with Japan and Egypt, respectively.
Dominik Szoboszlai is still recovering from his hamstring injury, and the Hungarian international is unlikely to be risked here. But the fresh absentee is Trent Alexander-Arnold, who will also miss out for a few weeks after picking up a lateral ligament tear against Arsenal.
“Trent hyperextended his knee during the last game,” said Pepijn Lijnders during his pre-match press conference before adding, “So he has a little tear in the lateral ligament of his knee and he will need time to recover. He had a scan and he will be out for a few weeks, so let’s see after that.”
The only injury boost for Liverpool heading into this game is the return of club captain Virgil van Dijk,, who has recovered from his illness. Lijnders said, “He did some runs yesterday on the pitch, looked good again. He recovered well.”
Caoimhin Kelleher is expected to start in goal for Liverpool here behind a back four of Conor Bradley, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez. Bradley and Gomez will be deployed as the full-backs here, and they will look to protect the central defenders and help out in the attack. Both players are makeshift full-backs, and they are unlikely to contribute too much to the offensive phases of the game.
As for the midfield unit, Alexis Mac Allister will start in the anchor role, with Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones on either side of him. Jones and Elliott will add creativity and technical ability in the middle of the park. Finally, Darwin Nunez will lead the line for Liverpool, with Diogo Jota on his right and Luis Diaz on the left.
Predicted Liverpool XI: Kelleher; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Gomez; Elliott, Alexis, Jones; Jota, Nunez, Diaz
