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Following Everton’s 10-point deduction, Ron Walker and Ben Grounds discuss their chances of staying in the Premier League for another season.
Lewis Steele: Come back and ask me at 2:30 on Saturday! But yes I think they can. They undoubtedly possess the offensive firepower to accomplish this, as Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez appear to be a formidable combination.
Virgil Van Dijk is re-finding his best form at the back. It is probably accurate to state that their squad depth is not as strong as City’s, so the question is whether they can maintain a comparatively clean sheet of health. To let Pep Guardiola know that Liverpool is back and here to stay this season, they should, in my opinion, at least draw on Saturday.
LEWIS STEELE: Jurgen Klopp needs to quit using it as an excuse right away because it applies to both teams. I think it is a shame for the neutral that it is in that slot as the tempo of the lunchtime kick-off is often slower than most matches.
This might work to City’s advantage as they try to choke Liverpool with pass after pass. Both teams are struggling; City has announced a lengthy list of injuries, while Liverpool has many players returning from distant places..
But it’ll be a blockbuster affair.
Any other early Liverpool team news?
Lewis Steele: After the international break, things are never easy to predict. Ryan Gravenberch and Curtis Jones should be back in the frame after injuries saw them miss the visit of Brentford a fortnight ago.
Kostas Tsimikas is fit after missing a Greece game this week, while Alexis Mac Allister can play after serving a one-match suspension.
Alisson; Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Jones; Salah, Nunez, Jota; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Gomez, and Mac Allister make up my predicted lineup.
Will Liverpool’s South American stars be fit?
LEWIS STEELE: Indeed, they will return. Whether they’ll be fully fit is another question! Alexis Mac Allister was hooked at Wolves at half-time straight after the international break a couple of months ago as Liverpool had a sloppy start in a 12.30pm kick-off at Molineux.
Liverpool will suffer heavy consequences if they begin that way against a team that features players like Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, and Erling Haaland.
As Darwin Nunez, who is currently on a roll and has scored two more goals for Uruguay overnight, can attest, form can become a habit in football.
If Pep Guardiola’s defense does not get better, Nunez and Mo Salah might have a fun afternoon against City, who looked extremely suspect at Stamford Bridge in their most recent Premier League match.
