Liverpool will be keen to maintain their rich vein of form when they travel to the Liberty Stadium to face a rather tricky opponent in Swansea. On the other hand, Guidolin will be looking to keep his job by springing a surprise victory against the Reds, like he did last season.
The Reds have been rampant over the past few weeks and will be hoping to keep the momentum going at Swansea as well. Klopp’s side finally look like a well-oiled machine that can perform at a high level of intensity week after week. Having dispatched the big guns with ease, doubts were cast on whether Liverpool would be able to replicate the same against the smaller teams as well. They did so with aplomb against Hull City last week in front of a packed home crowd at Anfield, emerging comfortable 5-1 victors.
Divock Origi suffered a minor foot injury and is a doubt for the Swansea clash and since he hasn’t yet featured in training for the Reds, it’s unlikely he will make the matchday squad. Instead of the Belgian, Danny Ings can be expected to line-up in the subs bench and could even be offered some playing time late-on in the game. Klopp is expected to stick to the attack of Coutinho, Firmino and Mane up-front with Sturridge coming on later.
Dejan Lovren, who missed Liverpool’s League Cup and Premier League commitments over the last couple of weeks due to a viral infection, is fit and could feature on Saturday ahead of Ragnar Klavan. The Croatian scored Liverpool’s opener against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and will be hoping to contribute just as well on his return at the Liberty Stadium.
Sheyi Ojo’s time on the sidelines is expected to be extended as the youngster has reportedly suffered another set-back just as he was lining himself up for a return. He along with Joe Gomez face an anxious time in the treatment room as they bid to recover faster in-order to return to first team action as quickly as possible.
Loris Karius didn’t have much to do last week against Hull City barring the solitary goal that he conceded. The German is reportedly set to stay in goal this weekend as well with Klopp hoping to give the German further opportunities to impress. Swansea away has never been a walk-in-the-park for Liverpool as they have only managed one victory in their last five visits to the stadium.
When they lost 3-1 at the Liberty Stadium back in May 2016 during the 2015-16 campaign, Klopp fielded a very young side as the game was just three days after an exhausting Europa League semi-final at Villarreal. With a full strength squad and no European football to worry about, the German was the first to admit on Thursday that his side have no excuses this time around.