Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk will return in a much-changed Liverpool lineup against Southampton on Saturday.
Liverpool come into the game against Southampton this weekend on the back of a 2-1 win over Tottenham in their last Premier League game. They will be fairly confident of getting a good result against the Saints at home.
Southampton have struggled at Anfield in recent seasons and will need to improve substantially in order to get a good result here. They will have seen how Leeds United played here and managed to secure the three points. It remains to be seen whether they can pull off an upset here.
Meanwhile, Liverpool are without Arthur Melo, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz for this game. All four players are long-term absentees. Naby Keita is still not match fit and he is expected to miss out.
Klopp made wholesale changes to the side against Derby County during the midweek League Cup win and the star players are set to return to the starting lineup here. The Liverpool boss also spoke about team news updates during his pre-match press conference.
Liverpool vs Southampton Preview: Probable Lineups, Prediction, Tactics, Team News & Key Stats
“Nobody is out from the players we had available for midweek or for the last game, I would say,” Klopp said, before continuing, “Millie is back in training today, Naby is out and running, Lucho is back on the pitch and running.”
“Joel trained, he trained with us, he was in three-fourths, pretty much the whole session but the last bit he didn’t do. But he is now obviously available as well – would be available but has only trained once with the team.”
Alisson Becker will return in goal despite Caoimhin Kelleher’s penalty shootout heroics in the Carabao Cup win. As for the defence, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson will return as the full-backs. Ibrahima Konate has been excellent since his return from injury and will partner Virgil van Dijk at the heart of Liverpool’s defence.
Liverpool are expected to line up in a 4-3-3, and the midfield three pretty much picks itself. Thiago Alcantara will be the controller alongside Fabinho, who will look to break up the play and win the ball back for the Reds. Harvey Elliott will add craft and technicality in the middle of the park.
As for the offensive unit, Roberto Firmino will lead the line with Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez being either side of him. Fabio Carvalho will be a backup offensive option for Klopp to select later in the game.
Predicted Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson; Elliott, Fabinho, Thiago; Salah, Firmino, Nunez
