Liverpool missed the chance to go top of the Premier League for Christmas Day after drawing 1-1 with Arsenal at the weekend, but the opportunity to leapfrog the north Londoners presents itself once more this evening.
The Reds will take first place for a few hours at least if they avoid defeat away to a Burnley side with the worst home record in the top flight this season, losing eight of their nine matches at Turf Moor, but Jurgen Klopp’s side would view anything less than three points as a damaging result to their title hopes.
The Merseysiders would make it three away league wins in a row if they defeat Vincent Kompany’s Clarets, atoning for the frustration of two successive draws at Anfield which ended their 100% home record for 2023/24.
Liverpool’s Christmas was overshadowed by the broken collarbone suffered by Kostas Tsimikas on Saturday, with the Greek defender becoming the latest addition to a lengthy injury list.
His enforced absence is one of five changes to the side which started against Arsenal three days ago.
Alisson continues in goal, while there are two changes in defence as Jarell Quansah and Joe Gomez come in for Ibrahima Konate and the stricken Tsimikas.
Wataru Endo is the only midfielder to keep his place from Saturday, with Ryan Gravenberch and Harvey Elliott taking the places of Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones.
There’s one change to the forward line as Darwin Nunez comes back into the line-up, with Luis Diaz among the substitutes after suffering a knock to his knee against Arsenal.
Elsewhere, Diogo Jota is back among the substitutes and could make his first appearance since going off injured against Manchester City a month ago.
You can catch the full team news below, courtesy of @LFC on X (formerly Twitter):
⚪ #BURLIV TEAM NEWS 🟢
How we line up to face Burnley at Turf Moor this evening:
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 26, 2023
Striker Darwin Nunez ended a 12-match goal drought to help fire Liverpool back to the top of the table with a 2-0 victory at Burnley. Don’t miss to click for complete blogs…