Giorgi Mamardashvili and Giovanni Leoni will make their first starts for Liverpool in the EFL Cup third-round tie with Southampton at Anfield on Tuesday.
Liverpool will aim to continue the solid winning run and progress to the EFL Cup round of 16 when they welcome Southampton to Anfield for the third-round tie on Tuesday night. Arne Slot has no new injury concerns to worry about ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
The Dutch tactician has a full-strength squad this midweek for the EFL Cup tie with Southampton. However, with games starting to come thick and fast, Slot must rotate his troops to keep everyone fresh and ensure sustainability for a long and gruelling campaign.
During an interview with the Merseyside club’s media, Slot confirmed his intention to rotate his squad and name a much-changed starting lineup in the EFL Cup third-round clash with Southampton on Tuesday night.
The Liverpool manager said, “Yeah, we do [make changes]. Same as we did last season in the League Cup. So many games need to be played and our players are able to do so, but once in a while they need a bit of rest as well because we sometimes tend to forget because we are so focused – and I’m the first one – on our games at Liverpool but many of them have played twice for the national teams as well.”
“So, they are able to do a lot but once in a while they need a little bit of rest – and I’m talking about two days of rest, which is still not a lot. Yes, there will be a completely changed lineup. But that our players are fit, that’s clear. Because a lot has been said about the added time against Everton but I would have loved to play on three or four seconds more because we were in a five-v-two situation at that moment.”
Slot also confirmed that Giorgi Mamardashvili and Giovanni Leoni would make their first starts for Liverpool on Tuesday. He said, “Yeah, we can go through all of them – Wata Endo and a few more. These are the players that need a game and we’re happy that we have one. If we wouldn’t have had one, we probably would have arranged a friendly in this week for these players because they need to play games as well to keep them ready whenever we need them.”
Giorgi Mamardashvili will replace Alisson Becker between the sticks, with the home side lining up in a 4-3-3 formation in front of him against Southampton on Tuesday. The backline will feature Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, Joe Gomez, and Andrew Robertson.
As for the midfield unit, Wataru Endo will line up alongside Curtis Jones and Stefan Bajcetic in the middle of the park. Finally, Alexander Isak will lead the line for the home side against Southampton, with Rio Ngumoha and Federico Chiesa being the two wide attackers.
Predicted Liverpool XI: Mamardashvili; Bradley, Gomez, Leoni, Robertson; Bajcetic, Endo, Jones; Chiesa, Isak, Ngumoha
