Liverpool were made to work extra hard for their point in the draw with Fulham at the weekend.
Despite second half goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah, the Reds were held to a 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage in their Premier League opener. Jurgen Klopp was not happy with his team’s performance, and will be busy making sure things are put right for their next match.
After an opening day draw, Liverpool are not in action until a week today against Crystal Palace at Anfield in the Monday night tie. The two team’s have already faced each other recently, with the Reds winning 2-0 in the pre-season clash in Singapore. Klopp could make some alterations to his starting line-up when Liverpool next take to the pitch. Here we assess the options at his disposal and the likelihood of any of them coming to pass...
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Change at the back?
Despite Liverpool conceding twice against Fulham, there weren’t many other big chances conceded by the visitors.
Virgil van Dijk will of course be the leading centre-back against Palace, hoping to put the penalty incident firmly behind him. The two full-backs, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, both look set to continue unless there’s a fitness issue.
That leaves the option of replacing Joel Matip, who did not have a bad game against Fulham. Given the injury to Ibrahima Konate, the only player you could replace Matip with is Joe Gomez.
Klopp is unlikely to make wholesale changes when Palace visit Anfield next week, but he could have a think about making an adjustment to the defence.
Midfield alterations
There will have to be at least midfield replacement for Crystal Palace after the injury to Thiago.
Curtis Jones is still out as things stand, as is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Hopefully, though, Naby Keita should be fit to return to the squad.
There is also the possibility of either Harvey Elliott or James Milner coming into the midfield in place of either Jordan Henderson or Fabinho.
Forward necessities
Klopp admitted after the game that he was not happy with the way the players started the game. Things improved after Nunez was introduced, and you expect him to come in against Palace.
That is likely to mean Roberto Firmino dropping to the bench. Salah is an almost certain starter, while Luis Diaz had moments of quality at Craven Cottage.
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