Liverpool are top of the Premier League after beating Spurs, but we’re already preparing for the next clash while the rumour mill continues to whirl.
Matip back in training
He missed the match on Wednesday night, but it couldn’t have been by much – Joel Matip was back in training with the Reds on Thursday.
As it turned out, Rhys Williams stepped in and produced an excellent covering performance, but with a fast turnaround to the weekend game against Crystal Palace it will be useful indeed to have an actual senior centre-back involved!
No risks will be taken with Matip, of course, but with a full week between facing Palace and West Brom it seems likely he’ll feature if there’s no reaction from his previous back issue.
If there were no significant knocks taken by the players against Spurs then we are slowly getting a more rounded squad back.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has been back on the bench the last two games and Naby Keita is involved again too, so Matip’s own return would be a further boost.
Reds to pounce on Lille misfortune
If you haven’t heard, French football is in all sorts of financial problems with a television deal collapsing and teams not having been paid millions.
One of the clubs facing ruin or restructuring is league leaders Lille, with reports suggesting the club owe well over €120 million to investors and banks and that president Gerard Lopez could be forced out or told to restructure the club – leading to a firesale of the squad.
Liverpool are linked by L’Equipe with a move for midfielder Renato Sanches, with a January deal not excluded – and they say an “unnamed club” were willing to fork over €70m in summer for a transfer.
The price would now be lower due to circumstance, so it’s worth watching to see if we do swoop in for him. Or for Jonathan David, Sven Botman, Boubakary Soumare, Jonathan Bamba…
Last game and the next one
Big game, big win! Now what comes next…
- Here are five funny moments from the game fans are loving, and five of the best stats of the night
- Robbo says the fans made a huge difference and a few players took a cheeky tone with their post-match reactions on social media
- We’ll have nine on the bench at the weekend and be one of only four teams allowed supporters over Christmas
Quickfire LFC news
- Diogo Jota‘s form has pushed Bobby Firmino to raise his own game, says former defender Dominic Matteo (Goal)
- Liam Millar has explained how he’s relishing being the U23s captain and the key parts of his game he’s improving (LFC)
- And a less-than-stellar rumour suggests we’ll offer up to €40m for Roma’s Roger Ibanez in January. We won’t, but it’s here if you want the details! (SW)
Around the Prem
- Juve have ‘opened talks’ with Pogba’s agent, so the next eight months of eye-rolling rumours have begun (Express)
- Declan Rice wants to move to Chelsea in January, and this is another rumour which will be laboriously repeated until it obviously happens (football.london)
- Man United want a winger, centre-back, right-back and holding midfielder, but have decided in January they’ll sign…nobody (MEN)
Tweet of the day
He’s on his way back!
kirkby ? @LFC pic.twitter.com/kzUU4bec6Q
— Thiago Alcantara (@Thiago6) December 17, 2020
What we’re reading
Jonathan Wilson in the Guardian reckons that Jose Mourinho is full-on for a title fight in a weird way, after both losing and saying they can’t possibly be.
And remember Keirrison, the seal-dribbling, Liverpool-linked Barcelona Brazilian forward? Here’s what happened to him, via Planet Football.
Worth watching tonight
Let’s all sit down together and watch one-point-from-36 Sheffield United pick up a first league win of the season against Manchester United. 8pm, Amazon Prime.
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