2 Feb 2016

Liverpool XI vs. Leicester: Massive changes ahead? 'Spectacular' star returns? Surprise starts for Teixeira/Brannagan?

After two cup games in a row, it's back to Premier League action for Liverpool tonight with a tough away clash against Premier League high-flyers Leicester City, and with only one win in the last four league games, the Reds will be hoping to replicate the 1-0 victory in the reverse fixture five weeks ago.

Klopp's pre-match updates:

* On Leicester's Danger-Men: "Mahrez, and Vardy...Kante, Drinkwater, Christian Fuchs with his set plays and throw ins, the defenders and Kasper Schmeichel".

* On injuries: Martin needs two or three days’ more time. Divock and Phil and Daniel should return to training – Daniel on Wednesday and the other two on Thursday. That’s the plan.

* On Preparation: "We could rest a lot of players on Saturday, so we will be prepared, but it’ll be intensive. They’ve had a few days off and we’ve had three games. That’s a big difference.

With respect, Klopp should stop moaning about rest periods and fixture pile-ups. He knew about the demands of British football before taking the job, and if he didn't, then that's a due-diligence failure on his part.

As for team selection:

* For the first time in months, Liverpool have close to a full set of defenders to choose from. Lovren, Sakho, Toure, Flanagan, Moreno, and Clyne are all fit. Add to that Caulker, Randall, Smith, and Ilori, and the Reds are actually oversubscribed.

* In my view, Rodgers should stick with Caulker and Lovren, who kept a clean-sheet against West Ham, but he seemingly has a soft-spot for Sakho (who he recently called 'spectacular'), so he'll probably come back into the starting line-up.

* Liverpool's young players did well against West Ham, and one or two of them arguably deserve to start tonight's game. Again, though, that probably won't happen, and Klopp will recall the usual (failing) suspects.

My preferred lineup:

----------------- Mignolet
Flanagan ---- Lovren -- Caulker ---- Smith
--------- Hendo -- Allen -- Brannagan
------------ Milner --- Teixeira
----------------- Firmino

What we'll probably get:

--------------- Mignolet
Clyne ---- Lovren -- Sakho ---- Moreno
------- Hendo -- Lucas -- Can
---------- Milner --- Lallana
----------------Firmino

PL

You have until Tuesday 19:45pm (GMT) to participate.

* 20 Points: First goalscorer.

* 20 Points: Liverpool player with the highest percentage of backward passes.

* 30 Points: Collective number of LFC crosses.

* 50 Point Triple-Whammy: Perfect score + goalscorer + backward passes (Possible points total: 120)

* The Daniel Plainview Mega-Bonus: 100 points for Perfect score + goalscorer + backward passes + crosses (Possible points total: 200)


Good luck!

Author: Jaimie K


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