Ibrahima Konate will return to the Liverpool starting lineup against Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield on Sunday.
Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion will face each other at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, and this is the golden opportunity for the Reds to put some daylight between them and their title rivals. The hosts have struggled against Brighton in recent seasons but cannot afford to slip-up this weekend.
The Reds have failed to win their last four matches against the Seagulls. So, Brighton will hope to dent Liverpool’s title hopes with another positive performance away from home. Liverpool will be delighted with the fitness of key players like Darwin Nunez, Ibrahima Konate, and Curtis Jones.
Andrew Robertson picked up a slight knock during the international break and he will miss out this weekend. However, he is expected to return next week. Jurgen Klopp provided a fitness update on a few players during his pre-match press conference.
Klopp said, “Robbo, we take it a little bit day by day so we will see. He will not train today but it’s not as bad. So that’s fine. Curtis, I am not sure if he is available [for Sunday], but in training. Ibou was an extra rest day [on Thursday], nothing else. [Nunez] is fine. He did his rehab during the week, trained the first day partially since we are back partially and since then he is in full training.”
Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Diogo Jota are expected to return to training next week. Klopp said on them, “The other boys, from next week on step by step I think they will join parts of team training and then team training, so we will see what we do with that.”
Caoimhin Kelleher will continue in goal in the absence of Alisson. Liverpool are likely to shape up in their usual 4-3-3 formation. Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez will be deployed as the full-backs here. The two players will look to contribute at both ends of the pitch. They will look to keep things compact defensively and help out in the attack.
Meanwhile, Ibrahima Konate will return to the starting lineup on Sunday, featuring alongside Virgil van Dijk at the heart of the defence. As for the midfield unit, Wataru Endo will start as the defensive midfielder, and he will look to break up opposition attacks and win the ball back for his side.
Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai will add creativity and control to the side alongside him. Finally, Darwin Nunez will lead the line for Liverpool against Brighton, with Mohamed Salah on his right and Luis Diaz on the left.
Predicted Liverpool XI: Kelleher; Bradley, Konate, van Dijk, Gomez; Szoboszlai, Endo, Mac Allister; Salah, Nunez, Diaz
