Arne Slot will rotate in some of his squad players as Liverpool visit Chelsea for their first game as Premier League champions – but with how many changes?
With their celebrations paused as they prepare for the first of their final four games of the season, Liverpool are in a rare position.
Their status as champions already confirmed, and that staying that way in the history books regardless of their final points total, these remaining fixtures are a platform to chop and change.
Slot told reporters on Friday that “there will be a few players that come into the team,” though the head coach made clear there would be no wholesale rotation – joking that he got “quite a bit of criticism” after he did so at Plymouth.
“We’re not going to change everyone,” he explained, but there are a clutch of squad players he acknowledges “deserve to play.”
So who could we see come into the starting lineup at Chelsea?
Team news
The latest team news ahead of Chelsea vs. Liverpool is as follows:
Joe Gomez (hamstring) is still sidelined but nearing a return
Conor Bradley (knock) could be back in the squad after training
Liverpool’s XI vs. Chelsea
It is important to stress that these games will not see a new cast rolled out; the majority of those given guards of honour will be those who played the biggest part in winning the title.
But Liverpool’s clashes with Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton and Crystal Palace give an opportunity to rest tired legs and, in some cases, give an early opportunity to those looking to stake a claim for a bigger role in 2025/26.
Chief among those is Harvey Elliott, who could be considered for the No. 10 role if Dominik Szoboszlai drops out at Stamford Bridge.
With Bradley unlikely to be fit to start the responsibility will fall to Trent Alexander-Arnold again at right-back, but Kostas Tsimikas is another candidate to come into the side and replace Andy Robertson.
Those two changes could see Liverpool line up like this:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Gravenberch, Elliott, Mac Allister; Salah, Diaz, Gakpo
Despite Slot’s comments coming on the eve of the Chelsea clash that does not mean all of his planned alterations need to come at once.
Perhaps Elliott’s first league start could be reserved for the visit of Arsenal or a Monday night trip to Brighton – with Wataru Endo another candidate to benefit after a long wait.
Jarell Quansah could also be brought in to lessen the workload on Ibrahima Konate, while Diogo Jota is available to shuffle into attack for either Luis Diaz or, more likely, Cody Gakpo.
With three changes from the title-clinching 5-1 win over Tottenham, we could see the following:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Van Dijk, Robertson; Endo, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister; Salah, Diaz, Jota
This is, of course, a first-time experience for all Liverpool fans: after a campaign of largely consistent team selections, supporters can see how Slot and his performance staff approach things with a title already won.
Promotions for the likes of Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha seem less likely than a simple increase in exposure for Quansah, Elliott, Endo and, having been name-checked in Slot’s press conference, Federico Chiesa.
Expect a handful of measured changes rather than large-scale rotation as, in the head coach’s own words, “we are going into these four games trying to win them.”
