Here is the predicted lineup for Liverpool ahead of their trip to London as they face West Ham United at the Olympic Stadium today.
Liverpool will be hoping to come back to winning ways following a draw against Leicester City on Wednesday on Anfield. The Reds will surely be in a pressure situation to secure all three points as Manchester City have closed down the gap to just two points following the victory against Arsenal yesterday.
Jurgen Klopp’s men have been shaky at the back after they have conceded six goals in the last three Premier League games. During the first 21 games of the campaign, the Reds shipped only eight goals totally. This is another factor Jurgen Klopp will want to work relentlessly hard to secure a much-needed victory against the Hammers.
INJURY NEWS:
The Merseyside outfit confirmed that their centre-back Joe Gomez will be ruled out for the next four weeks after his rehabilitation was drawn curtains. The English International is forced to have surgery on his ankle which has kept him out of the action since December second week.
Several reports confirmed that Trent Alexander-Arnold will not be available for the game against West Ham, likewise, the Croatian International Dejan Lovren who will be missing his third straight game after he was forced off injured against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup tie.
James Milner, who served the suspension against Leicester City is expected to be restored into the starting lineup. Alisson Becker, Joel Matip, Virgil Van Dijk, and Andy Robertson are expected to keep their place.
Naby Keita, who did not have a great game against Claude Puel’s side is expected to drop to the bench. Fabinho, Gini Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson might be the midfield three against Manuel Pellegrini’s men.
The front three of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, and Mohamed Salah, who have scored 35 goals in between should be included in the eleven. Following a poor outing against Leicester City in the midweek and Klopp’s cautiousness away from home will see Xherdan Shaqiri will drop down to the bench.
Liverpool’s reliable journalist Paul Joyce, predicts his Starting eleven for the game against West Ham,
PREDICTED STARTING XI: Alisson Becker, James Milner, Joel Matip, Virgil Van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Jordan Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino.
Liverpool fans will be hoping for one of Xherdan Shaqiri or Naby Keita to start to have a bit of creativity in the midfield. It will be interesting to see how it will pan out for Jurgen Klopp who is not nervous heading into this game.
In the pre-match press conference, the German said “Somebody told me before the game [Leicester] that if we won we would be seven points ahead,” he added.
“Only one team in the history of English football dropped that advantage. It was Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle and I thought what do we do with this information? But human beings are like that.
“You can lose something – a lead or something else when you have that feeling – but we don’t feel like we can lose something. We don’t expect being six, seven, eight, 12 points ahead and then we feel safe.
“We only do our job and so far we have done it really well. That is what we will do again. You decide what you think, I decide what I think.”
“We are relaxed in this situation – not too relaxed, it is not that we don’t care,. We care a lot but we know that we have to give our best until the last match and then we will see what happens and where we will finish the season.
“It is not about losing. It is about the opportunity to win something. We are in the situation that we can win something. Do we think we will win it? No, because we cannot be sure but we can do everything to try and be as high as possible in the table. I can promise that.”
