Jurgen Klopp will be looking to give the youngsters and fringe players another go as Liverpool take on Midtjylland in their last Champions League Group Stage match.
Liverpool have already secured a place in the knockout phase of the 2020/21 Champions League and preferential seeding with the first place in Group D locked already. Jurgen Klopp goes into the match against Midtjylland hoping to give the bench and youngsters a chance to impress.
There are a lot of absentees for Liverpool, with Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner all a long way off before returning to full fitness. Nathaniel Phillips is ineligible and will be unavailable, along with summer signing Thiago, who is yet to be fully fit.
Jurgen Klopp will look to rotate the side, with not much to play for in this dead rubber and the manager highlighted the same in his pre-match conference.
“The job is to get in fresh legs, very important to get quality to change as much as you have to. It’s pretty much led not by me, it’s by the schedule. This game is Wednesday, which is of course absolutely fine, three days after the last game.”
“The next game is on Sunday [against] Fulham, on Wednesday Tottenham, Saturday 12.30 [at] Crystal Palace. That means in 10 days or so, four games. That’s massive and we have to consider that.”
Caoimhin Kelleher should continue in goal after impressive performances in the absence of Alisson. Trent Alexander-Arnold is the only key player expected to start, with Klopp likely to use this match as a way to give the English international a run out to gain match fitness for the aforementioned packed schedule.
Joel Matip should be partnered by the young and enterprising Rhys Williams, with summer signing Kostas Tsimikas on the left.
In midfield, we should see the likes of Naby Keita and Curtis Jones start on either side of club captain Jordan Henderson. Takumi Minamino will get a chance to impress again as he takes up the role of the centre-forward against Midtjylland.
Divock Origi should start on the left, with the in-form Diogo Jota completing the starting eleven. As far as the substitutes are concerned, Billy Koumetio is in line to be on the bench and could become the youngest player to play in European competition for Liverpool, should he come on against Midtjylland.
Predicted Liverpool Starting XI: Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Williams, Tsimikas; Keita, Henderson, Jones; Jota, Minamino, Origi.