Morning all!
Christmas is over and Boxing Day football is finally here.
And if you’d have told us at the start of the season that a team starting with ‘L’ would be top of the Premier League table at this point, we’d be rubbing our hands with glee. But sadly, it’s today’s Anfield opposition Leicester City sitting pretty while we languish in ninth.
Jurgen Klopp’s keen to close the gap, and claimed in his press conference that Top 4 is still a realistic target for Liverpool.
As per, the expected started XI has circled the internet – to mixed reviews.
Various accounts have speculated that this side will take the field against Claudio Ranieri’s men, with Roberto Firmino dropped after a shoddy display last time out versus Watford.
Elsewhere, Dejan Lovren should return from injury to partner Mamadou Sakho in Martin Skrtel’s absence.
Mignolet; Clyne, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno; Lucas, Can, Henderson; Coutinho, Lallana, Benteke
The giant Belgian forward will be desperate to put in a good performance after a run of poor ones, especially after Klopp openly backed him in the run up to Christmas.
Interestingly, this will be Klopp’s first home league game which isn’t a late Sunday kick-off.
Sakho and Lovren have rarely partnered each other at the back, because they both prefer the ‘left-sided’ centre-back role. But Sakho’s a leftie and Lovren’s right-footed – meaning we can’t really see why it’d be a problem.
Despite that, they do have the country’s two most dangerous attackers this season to deal with – Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez. Hopefully though our attackers can start to prove themselves while the defenders blunt the Tigers’ on song pair.