Darwin Nunez and Joe Gomez will return to the Liverpool starting lineup against Burnley at Turf Moor on Boxing Day.
Liverpool will be eager to return to winning ways and reclaim the top spot in the Premier League when they lock horns with Burnley at Turf Moor on Tuesday evening. And Jurgen Klopp has new fitness issues to deal with ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Kostas Tsimikas is the latest absentee after the Greek defender broke his collarbone in a freak incident this past weekend against Arsenal. In addition, Klopp is sweating over the fitness of Luis Diaz, who picked up a knock on his knee in the same game.
Meanwhile, Joel Matip (knee), Andrew Robertson (shoulder), Stefan Bajcetic (calf), Alexis Mac Allister (knee), Thiago Alcantara (hip), and Diogo Jota (thigh) remain on the sidelines. Klopp provided a fitness update on Jota during his pre-match press conference.
He said, “I don’t want to rule out anybody now. We will see. He didn’t train with the team yet and we have only one proper session, so it would be a surprise – but maybe I will be surprised and all fine. I don’t know. I saw him [on Friday]; he didn’t train with the team but the session I saw was really intense, but I didn’t ask yet who will be available. The medical department will tell me and then I will know more.”
Klopp also discussed the left-back issue, saying, “We will see. Can Joey play all the games coming up now until – I don’t know when – Robbo will be back? Kosti is now definitely out for a while, so I don’t know, we have to see. I didn’t have time now to think it through, but somebody will play the position I am pretty sure. It is for us obviously really tough, it’s really tough.”
“You have injuries sometimes and we accept all of them, but a broken collarbone is really bad because it just takes long. Same what Robbo had: a different injury but that takes long as well, how we all know. We all know we need luck in these moments to get through and now we will have Joey there and just have to make sure we put him in cotton wool and we have to make sure he is always ready for the games.”
Joe Gomez should replace the injured Tsimikas as the left-back, joining Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, and Trent Alexander-Arnold in the backline. The defensive quartet will protect Alisson Becker, who will take his spot between the sticks.
As for the midfield unit, Ryan Gravenberch should return, with Curtis Jones making way for him. Gravenberch will accompany Wataru Endo and Dominik Szoboszlai in the middle of the park. Finally, with Luis Diaz unlikely to be fit to start, Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah pick themselves as the three attackers.
Predicted Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Gomez; Szoboszlai, Endo, Gravenberch; Salah, Gakpo, Nunez
