Much in the way of excitement followed the return of Diogo Jota to the starting-XI in Liverpool’s goalless draw with Crystal Palace – and rightly so.
When Jurgen Klopp’s Reds have previously struggled for a goal, the Portuguese has made it his calling card to pop up out of nowhere, even if his personal performance on the day is worth of a few question marks, and snatch a goal from thin air.
The former Wolves man couldn’t produce the metaphorical rabbit out of the hat on this occasion, however, though a loss of two points in the league simply shouldn’t fall squarely on his shoulders after another lacklustre display from the midfield.
In the backline, we’re expecting to see Andy Robertson handed a much-needed break with Kostas Tsimikas coming in. The Scot has played nearly every minute of our top-flight campaign with his last true break (if we overlook a half-time appearance against Brentford) coming in the 1-0 win over West Ham back in November.
In the midfield, the return of young legs in Stefan Bajcetic is absolutely critical with Naby Keita and James Milner more than likely to be dropped in favour of the Spaniard and Fabinho.
Providing that Darwin Nunez makes his return from a shoulder concern, we’re expecting to see our No.27 start alongside Cody Gakpo and Mo Salah.
EOTK’s predicted XI: Alisson, Tsimikas, Van Dijk, Matip, Alexander-Arnold, Bajcetic, Fabinho, Henderson, Nunez, Gakpo, Salah