Southampton‘s Premier League visit is positioned amid a challenging PSG tie and a looming cup final, and Arne Slot could be set to make changes on Saturday after his hint to the media.
Liverpool were made to suffer in Paris during midweek, absorbing constant pressure before striking late to take an unlikely 1-0 lead in their last 16 Champions League tie.
Next up, though, is a Premier League assignment that sees top face bottom three days after the energy-sapping first leg and three days before the deciding fixture at Anfield.
With this in mind, Slot explained that “if I make the choice to play other players, that is because I think that’s the biggest chance to win the game and not because I want to rest them for the game against Paris Saint-Germain.”
The Dutchman was eager to insist that he is not taking the Saints lightly and that changes would create “a bigger chance of winning the game.”
So, how could Liverpool lineup for Saturday’s 3pm kickoff?
Team news
Liverpool’s injury situation remains stable but doubt still lingers over Cody Gakpo‘s availability:
Liverpool’s XI vs. Southampton
Slot has made it known what his first-choice lineup is when all his players are fit, but he needs to keep them fresh and that is why several changes on Saturday would not come as a surprise.
With three games in nine days ahead of the international break, this is the opportunity to rotate and that could benefit the likes of Kostas Tsimikas, Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones and Darwin Nunez.
As Ryan Gravenberch has shown signs of fatigue, there appears no better fixture than this to reward Endo for his self-sacrificing role with his first league start of the season.
Harvey Elliott could also come into consideration in his favoured midfield role, which would ensure Liverpool’s engine room all get a rest before PSG and the Carabao Cup final:
Tsimikas the only change in the back four, replacing Robertson
New midfield combo with Endo, Jones and Elliott all starting
Nunez gets starting chance alongside Diaz and Salah
The five changes from midweek look like this:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Endo, Elliott, Jones; Salah, Diaz, Nunez
If Slot is more mindful of making fewer changes – he has only made an average of 1.4 changes over the last five games – then he may find three is the magic number.
This would allow a change in all three departments and the hope that pre-planned substitutions can be utilised to manage others later in the match.
Like the abovementioned lineup, it would see Dominik Szoboszlai, Robertson and Diogo Jota all drop out of the starting XI in favour of Jones, Tsimikas and Nunez:
Gravenberch and Mac Allister retained to start alongside Jones
Tsimikas and Nunez the only other changes
Liverpool would then take to the pitch as follows:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Gravenberch, Jones, Mac Allister; Salah, Diaz, Nunez
On paper, this is certainly one of Liverpool’s ‘easiest’ fixtures but now is not the time to take the foot off the gas in the first of three finals over the next nine days.
This fixture is the ideal opportunity to make a handful of changes and Liverpool ought to have enough quality should Slot choose to do so, but Wolves showed no team can be underestimated.
