Arne Slot will make changes to his starting XI for the visit of West Ham in the League Cup, and there is a possibility that we will see all 10 outfield players changed from last time out.
In the win over Bournemouth, Slot made the most changes to his lineup so far with four – though that will surely be surpassed on Wednesday as the League Cup defence gets underway.
It is where we will find out more about the Dutchman and how serious he is about domestic cups, but Liverpool will still be expected to win whatever the XI.
West Ham, on the other hand, have not had the best of starts under Julen Lopetegui, winning just two of their opening six games.
With a chance to rotate between league fixtures, let’s take a look at how the Reds could line up.
Team News
Ahead of the cup clash, Slot offered an update on his squad and his plans for rotation:
- Alisson still sidelined, “going to be tight” for return vs. Wolves
- Federico Chiesa is “able to start” but will not play full 90
- A “fair chance” 17-year-old Trey Nyoni will be in the squad
- Slot “will select for this game different players”
Liverpool’s XI vs. West Ham
While we do not have previous knowledge as to how Slot will treat this fixture like we did with Jurgen Klopp, there is the potential for 10 outfield changes to be made from Saturday’s win.
This ensures fringe players are getting minutes in their legs and the entire squad is being utilised – something we want Slot to embrace throughout the campaign.
Every senior player has featured so far, but we would not be surprised to see maiden starts for Conor Bradley, Joe Gomez, Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones, Tyler Morton and Chiesa.
For that reason, it is unlikely to be the most eye-catching performance as they will all need to gel, but they ought to be able to get the job done:
- Caoimhin Kelleher the only player to keep their place
- Bradley and Gomez come in for first starts of the season
- Endo, Jones and Morton make up a new-look midfield
- Chiesa gets full debut as part of strong forward line
This would see the Reds line up as follows:
Kelleher; Bradley, Gomez, Quansah, Tsimikas; Endo, Jones, Morton; Chiesa, Gakpo, Jota
If Slot wanted to be a little more conservative with his changes, though, he could look to retain four players from the win over Bournemouth.
That could include Kelleher, Virgil van Dijk, Dominik Szoboszlai and Darwin Nunez, the latter two of whom did not play the full 90 minutes.
This would strike more of a balance between players who have rhythm and those who do not, which is tough on the likes of Gomez and Morton:
- Van Dijk retained to partner Quansah
- Szoboszlai named for seventh start of the season
- Nunez gets back-to-back starts in the central role
Those tweaks have Liverpool shaping up like this:
Kelleher; Bradley, Quansah, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Endo, Szoboszlai, Jones; Chiesa, Gakpo, Nunez
There is really no telling how Slot will approach rotation for this match until the team news is released more than an hour before kickoff, but we’re hoping to see plenty of changes.
A lot of outfield players deserve a run out, and on the other side of the coin, there are plenty of regulars who would be aided by having some extra rest during this busy run of fixtures.
