Arne Slot‘s ability to rotate is hindered by injuries throughout his squad, but Liverpool still have the potential for several changes in their League Cup clash at Brighton.
The Reds can progress to the League Cup quarter-final for the 26th time in their history if they overcome the Seagulls later this evening.
It is a quick turnaround for Liverpool following their 2-2 draw at Arsenal over the weekend, while Brighton were afforded an extra day of rest after their 2-2 draw against Wolves.
Slot made 10 changes to his starting lineup the last time his side played in this competition, but he has more injuries to think about on this occasion.
Here is who Slot will be without for the 7.30pm (UK) kickoff:
Slot did not report any new injury issues on the eve of the clash, much to our relief, and instead offered hope that Conor Bradley would be back in contention after missing the last three games.
“Conor is training with us again so he could maybe be in the squad,” he explained, meaning a role off the bench is the likeliest eventuality.
We received an expected timeline for Diogo Jota and Harvey Elliott and it was not what we wanted to hear, with the pair joining Alisson as returnees after the November international break.
Federico Chiesa, however, is another story. The Italian is still battling to keep fit when returning to training and it means Slot does not “want to put days or weeks” on a possible timeline.
Although Slot’s ability to make sweeping changes are somewhat limited, rotation still has to come into play and he all but confirmed that Wataru Endo will earn a rare start.
Jarell Quansah, Joe Gomez and Tyler Morton will also be in line for valuable minutes to afford regular first-team players some rest after an intense couple of weeks.
We could even see Cody Gakpo deployed in the No. 9 role from the start after the Liverpool boss conceded he was without two of his “most logical” options.
Liverpool’s expected squad vs. Brighton
Goalkeepers: Kelleher, Jaros, Davies
Defenders: Van Dijk, Konate, Quansah, Gomez, Alexander-Arnold, Bradley, Robertson, Tsimikas
Midfielders: Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Jones, Endo, Morton, Nyoni
Forwards: Salah, Diaz, Nunez, Gakpo
