Arne Slot will keep Crystal Palace head coach Oliver Glasner guessing when it comes to his Liverpool lineup for the Carabao Cup, with a coy stance over possible rotation.
Sandwiched between two Saturday night kickoffs in the Premier League – the 3-2 defeat at Brentford just gone and the upcoming visit of Aston Villa – Liverpool are expected to rotate in the cup.
Goalkeeper Freddie Woodman is all but confirmed to start while U21s winger Trent Kone-Doherty appears set to be in the squad.
But otherwise there have been no indications yet as to how Slot will approach the fourth-round tie, with This Is Anfield told at least one player was uncertain of his involvement as late as Tuesday afternoon.
In his matchday programme notes ahead of the third meeting with Palace already this season, Slot said: “At the time of writing these notes I have not made a final decision on the squad that we will use for this game.
“There is a need to train and to check on availability – but whichever players we use have to be ready to face a team like Palace.”
Liverpool declined the opportunity to hold a pre-match press conference due to a loophole in Carabao Cup rules, meaning the head coach did not face questions over his squad.
Liverpool’s injuries and likely changes
Alisson and Jeremie Frimpong are both out with hamstring injuries, however, while Giovanni Leoni is sidelined for the rest of the season with a torn ACL.
Meanwhile there are doubts over the fitness of Alexander Isak (groin), Ryan Gravenberch (ankle) and Curtis Jones (groin), Stefan Bajcetic (hamstring) is yet to return to full training and Jayden Danns (hamstring) is out for the long term.
• READ: Liverpool lineups vs. Crystal Palace with 1 debut and up to 8 changes
The likelihood is that Slot will rest a number of his key players, with Giorgi Mamardashvili due to drop out along with Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Dominik Szoboszlai, Mohamed Salah and Hugo Ekitike.
A decision will need to be made over whether to stick with Conor Bradley at right-back or turn to the out-of-favour Calvin Ramsay, while the choice of left-back could be a big hint at Slot’s plans going forward.
Wataru Endo, Joe Gomez, Trey Nyoni, Federico Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha are all likely to start while Rhys Williams, Kaide Gordon and Kieran Morrison could all made the squad.
Alexis Mac Allister could be given an opportunity to build up his fitness after a difficult start to the campaign.
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