Liverpool will travel to Austria for their UEFA Europa League group stage opener against LASK on Thursday evening.
Liverpool will be looking to continue their impressive run of form and pick up all three points when they take on LASK at the Waldstadion on Thursday evening. The Reds are currently third in the Premier League table and come into this game on the back of four consecutive victories.
Meanwhile, LASK have made an impressive start to the Austrian Bundesliga, and they are third in the table with four wins and two draws from seven matches. The home side have won the last three outings and they will look to pull off a morale-boosting victory here.
Liverpool are undoubtedly the better team here, but they cannot afford to take the home side lightly. The Hard Tackle takes a closer look at the encounter ahead of the UEFA Europa League clash between the two sides.
Our attention turns to LASK ✊ pic.twitter.com/mSwTxsnBPd
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 19, 2023
Team News & Tactics
LASK
The home side will be without the services of Tobias Anselm, Yannis Letard, and Adil Taoui because of ACL injuries. Lenny Pintor is also sidelined with a muscle problem.
The Austrian outfit are likely to shape up in a 3-4-3 formation, with Tobias Lawal in goal. In the back three, Felix Luckeneder will start alongside Philipp Ziereis and Andres Andrade. Florian Flecker and George Bello will start as the wingers and they will look to help out defensively as well as create goalscoring opportunities.
Branko Jovicic and Sascha Horvath will start in the centre of the midfield, and they will look to keep the side defensively compact and break up the opposition attacks. Robert Zulj will lead the line for the hosts with Marin Ljubicic and Elias Havel on either side of him.
Probable Lineup (3-4-3): Lawal; Luckeneder, Ziereis, Andrade; Flecker, Jovicic, Horvath, Bello; Ljubicic, Zulj, Havel
Liverpool
Thiago Alcantara suffered a setback during his recovery hip injury and is set to miss out. Trent Alexander-Arnold missed the last outing with a hamstring problem, and he is unlikely to be risked here.
Liverpool are likely to shape up in their usual 4-3-3 formation, with Caoimhin Kelleher in goal. Joe Gomez and Kostas Tsimikas will line up as the full-backs here, and they will look to help out defensively as well as going forward.
Jarell Quansah will start at the heart of the defence alongside Virgil van Dijk. In the middle of the park, Wataru Endo will be the defensive midfielder and he will look to break up the opposition attacks.
Ryan Gravenberch is likely to start here along with Harvey Elliott. The two players will look to add creativity and control to the side. Finally, Diogo Jota should lead the line for Liverpool, with Ben Doak and Luis Diaz on either side of him.
Probable Lineup (4-3-3): Kelleher; Gomez, Quansah, Van Dijk, Tsimikias; Elliott, Endo, Gravenberch; Doak, Jota, Diaz
Key Stats
- Liverpool are unbeaten in the last five matches across all competitions.
- LASK are unbeaten in their last five matches across all competitions.
- Liverpool have conceded at least once in four of the last five matches across all competitions.
- Liverpool have scored 12 goals in the last five matches across all competitions.
Player to Watch
Luis Diaz
Luis Diaz on International duty ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/4lDdl4ickE
— Moby (@Mobyhaque1) September 12, 2023
The Colombian international is undoubtedly one of the best attackers at the club, and Liverpool will need him to step up in case the likes of Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez are rested.
Diaz will help open up goalscoring opportunities and he can get on the scoresheet himself as well. LASK could struggle to cope with his trickery and pace from the wide areas. The Colombian international is our key player to watch out for.
Prediction
LASK 1-2 Liverpool
Liverpool are the better team on paper despite resting a number of players for this game, and they will be the favourites to grind out all three points. However, the home team are no pushovers and they are in impressive form heading into this contest.
This is likely to be a close contest with both teams getting on the score sheet. However, the Premier League giants have enough quality to edge this one and a narrow 2-1 away win is on the cards here.