Good afternoon Reds. Welcome back to The Anfield Opinion. The Reds’ next challenge in the quest for glory is Burnley. At Anfield. 3pm. Let’s talk about it.
On paper, this game looks to have arrived at the perfect time. 1st against 19th in the League, with the table toppers being at home too. Everything points to a comfortable home win. That should be the case come Saturday evening. We get the chance to right our wrongs after last Sunday when we were deservedly beaten in North London. It is no disrespect to Burnley, but this is one of the easier games we should have. We comfortably beat them at their place on Boxing Day and if we are serious about mounting a challenge for the title then nothing other than a win can be afforded.
Injury news is an interesting one. Some good, more bad. Wataru Endo returns to the squad after his Asian Cup with Japan came to an end last Saturday. His availability creates the idea that he could play in the six and let Alexis Mac Allister move further forwards in a midfield that once again will be without Dominik Szoboszlai. Whilst confirmed this afternoon that he is running outside this game comes too soon for the Hungarian. Thiago Alcantara. Lord give me strength. Thiago suffered a muscle strain upon his return to action after nine long months. We just hope he has not played his last Liverpool game, with his contract expiring this summer. Conor Bradley is once again unavailable for obvious reasons. Mo Salah’s rehab is progressing in the right direction, but he is not expected to rejoin training until next week at the earliest. Jurgen Klopp alluded to a flu in the squad and so God only knows who is available for tomorrow. Late fitness assessments I would imagine.
Before the Arsenal defeat we were playing some of the best football we have played this season. Maybe some of the best under Jurgen Klopp. And so we should not be downbeat because we lost a game. It happens. You have bad days at the office. That is totally normal. But how you react is important. We must react to keep the pressure on Manchester City who play before us with the chance to go back top. If the atmosphere is on song and the players are up for it from the first minute then there is no reason why we cannot be out of sight after 30 minutes. Do to Vincent Kompany what we did to Scott Parker. Win 9-0. We are good enough to.
Team selection then.
Alisson starts, obviously. Back four. I would like to see Joe Gomez and Andy Robertson start at fullback. There is no need to start Trent Alexander-Arnold when he struggled against Arsenal and his fitness is still not perfect. Jarell Quansah will partner the skipper with Ibrahima Konate being suspened after last week.
Midfield is up for debate, there are many possibilities. I would like to see Wataru Endo, Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones from the start tomorrow. Alexander-Arnold is a conversation for midfield.
The frontline should be Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez. We massively missed Nunez last time out. His intensity is unmatched.
Alisson. Gomez. Quansah. Van Dijk. Robertson. Endo. Elliott. Jones. Jota. Nunez. Diaz.
Score prediction. I never like to tempt fate but this should be a comfortablr, routine Liverpool win. I would say 3-0 to the Reds. We are approaching that point when Man City start to win every game and so if we are to keep pace then it has to be three points against Burnley.
That’s it for the Match Build-up. Thank you so much for reading it. Have your opinion heard in the comments on this post. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy your weekend Reds.