Predicted Liverpool XI vs Luton Town: Elliott to start; Salah out

Harvey Elliott will start for Liverpool but Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez will miss out against Luton Town on Wednesday.

Liverpool are currently one point clear at the top and cannot afford to drop points when they take on Luton Town at Anfield on Wednesday evening, with Manchester City and Arsenal breathing down their necks.

The Reds are going through a bit of an injury crisis right now, and Jurgen Klopp might struggle put together a squad capable of grinding out all three points here. Liverpool will be without their first-choice goalkeeper Alisson Becker because of a hamstring injury. Diogo Jota is sidelined for a few months with a knee injury.

Curtis Jones picked up a bone ligament issue against Brentford and will join the Portuguese international on the sidelines. Thiago Alcantara, Joel Matip, and Stefan Bajcetic are long-term absentees and they might not feature this season. Klopp has also confirmed that Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai are on their way back but are unlikely to feature here.

He said in his pre-match press conference, “So, not available is obviously Ali, that’s a muscle injury where we don’t know exactly how long it takes but definitely not for foreseeable time coming back.”

“Then we have Diogo with a knee issue, is ruled out. Curtis, with a bone ligament issue, ruled out. All the little bit longer-term like Trent and Dom, they are on their way back but not in team training yet, so that means they are not available as well.”

Caoimhin Kelleher is set for an extended run in the side now, and he will start in goal for Liverpool. Conor Bradley will continue as the right-back in the absence of Alexander-Arnold. Andrew Robertson should start as the left-back here. Ibrahima Konate will start in the central defensive unit alongside Virgil van Dijk.

In the midfield, Ryan Gravenberch could be handed a start in the absence of Jones. He will look to add creativity and control in the middle of the park alongside Alexis Mac Allister. Wataru Endo is likely to start as the defensive midfielder. Meanwhile, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah remain doubts for the game.

On Salah and Nunez, Klopp said via The Athletic: “It is day by day as well with Mo. It’s a similar area where he feels it (fatigue) a little bit. We have to see how it develops. It’s nothing crazy, but we have to see.”

“Yes (Nunez was taken off at half time as a precaution). Absolutely definitely. The problem at Brentford was that we had changed already twice if we let him play a little bit longer and say: ‘Ok how does it feel now?’

“That could have been it so we had to take the decision at half-time so we had another opportunity to change in the second half. He felt that in that game and there was nothing around. We said we go day by day and today we didn’t train. We will see.”

Cody Gakpo is expected to lead the line for Liverpool in the absence of Nunez. Harvey Elliott is likely to be deployed as the right-sided winger, and he will look to add creativity from the wide areas. Luis Diaz will start on the left flank.