Jurgen Klopp already has a considerable injury list to contend with as Liverpool launch their Premier League campaign today.
Arsenal played the first game of the season, beating Crystal Palace 2-0 on Friday evening in an engaging encounter at Selhurst Park.
Three points for The Arsenal.
The perfect start to 2022/23 ✅ pic.twitter.com/u9liEGghBq
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 5, 2022
The Reds will be able to field a close to full-strength side for the game despite their injury list growing over the last week.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is out for 2-3 months while Curtis Jones is out for 2-4 weeks which has strengthened Liverpool’s need for a new midfielder.
Diogo Jota will still miss today’s game but he has been ruled out for a while already with Caiomhin Kelleher, Calvin Ramsa, and Ibrahima Konate are also to be absent from the matchday squad.
Liverpool will be hoping for a win and while it’s far too early to be looking at goal difference in the grand make-up of the season, the Merseysiders can go top of the Premier League with a 3-0 win over the Cottagers.
Despite the mounting injury concerns, Klopp can still name a fantastic 4-2-4 side to face Marco Silva’s men.
Darwin Núñez on Klopp’s comments about him being an ‘extremely good looking boy’:
“I’m not convinced I’m handsome but okay!” pic.twitter.com/C0BmBpoixY
— The Anfield Talk (@TheAnfieldTalk) August 6, 2022
Up front, I expect Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah to start for Liverpool today.
We should get our first look at the new boy, Nunez, who scored on his official debut for the Reds in the 3-1 win over Manchester City in the Community Shield.
In midfield, Klopp could lineup in a number of ways. Whether or not he opts for Fabio Carvalho or Harvey Elliott in the wide midfield roles remains to be seen but it’s most likely he goes for Thiago, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson.
Naby Keita could start over Thiago or Henderson depending on whether or not Jurgen Klopp wants to manage their minutes this early in the season.
The Guinean was ill earlier this week but is back in contention to face Fulham.
At the back, we will most likely see Robertson, van Dijk, Matip and Trent Alexander-Arnold with Alisson returning between the sticks, replacing Adrian.
Injuries update from Klopp:
Alisson – fine.
Naby – been ill, should be back today.
Kelleher – still a few weeks away
Jota – few weeks
Kostas – out on pitch, could be back next week
Ibou – out for a while
Ox – couple months
— Watch LFC (@Watch_LFC) August 5, 2022
