Heading into the weekend clash at Fulham FC, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp lavished heavy praise upon central defender Joel Matip for his displays during an injury riddled patch.
“He has really stepped up,” the German said. “From me he cannot get more praise, he’s an outstanding player and he did unbelievably against Bayern. We were unlucky with the centre-back injuries but hopefully this is all nearly sorted.”
“Matip was incredible against Naples (sic) until he got that injury, but we’ve had a bit of consistency now and thankfully Virg is playing all the time and they’ve done a brilliant job.”
Yes, it certainly appears that the injury crisis which recently hit the team in the back line is now pretty much subsided. Dejan Lovren has been an unused substitute the past couple games and it’s likely he gets back into the first 11 after the international break. Joe Gomez should also be back to full fitness after the break.
As they take on the soon-to-be-relegated Craven Cottagers tomorrow, here’s the line-up that we think Klopp will go with.
The Bank Liverpool FC Starting XI Prediction at Fulham (4-3-3)
Forwards: Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah
Midfielders: Georginio Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Adam Lallana
Back line: Andrew Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Goalkeeper: Alisson
Video of Jurgen Klopp’s news conference on Friday:
Liverpool FC at Fulham FYIs
Kickoff: Sunday, March 17, 2:15 PM local, Craven Cottage
Injury Report for both sides: go to this link
Form Guide: Fulham- LLLLLL Liverpool- DDWDWW
Odds to qualify via Sky Bet: Liverpool win 1/4, Draw 5/1, Fulham win 10/1
Google Result Probability: Liverpool win 76%, Draw 17%, Fulham win 7%
Prediction: Liverpool 4, Fulham 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.