Liverpool’s Premier League fixture list for the 2021/22 campaign has the Reds set to play two fixtures during the African Cup of Nations, which is due to take place across 9th January to 6th February.
It spells good news for the club’s African contingent, with Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita all likely to feature for their respective nations.
The trio would avoid missing key fixtures, with Jurgen Klopp’s men set to host Brentford on 15th January at Anfield before visiting Crystal Palace for the 22nd.
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The fixture release will have no doubt prompted a huge sigh of relief as far as the ex-Dortmund boss is concerned, given that we will lose out on two of our highest scorers.
While the pressure to find a new forward addition is somewhat reduced, at least in regard to ensuring adequate cover during AFCON, we think it’s absolutely paramount that a new signing is identified in that area given the unreliability of our backup options.
Though they will remain Anfield favourites, the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri and Divock Origi have not provided effective competition to our favoured forward line in recent times.
Given the drop-off when the Mane and Bobby Firmino aren’t playing at their best, it makes sense for us to pursue a signing of the £30-40m mark, similar to Diogo Jota, who’s young enough to accept a challenge and grow with the squad.
Liverpool doesn’t need a new signing when we have many useless players in the squad. They are just defined by injuries year after year. Talk about Naby Keita, Oxlade Chamberlain, Divock Origi, Matip just to mention but a few. We have players like Philips, Curtis Jones, Williams who are good but not given a chance.