Don’t expect Liverpool to play pragmatic and try to run out the clock in tomorrow’s Champions League quarterfinal match at Manchester City. Although the Reds come in to the away leg up 3-0, due to their resounding victory last Wednesday in the Anfield leg, they will keep on attacking.
Don’t fix what’s not broken, and Reds boss Jurgen Klopp will make to sure to stick with the formula that’s been battle tested already. He will have to make a couple changes to his side though for this one. First and foremost is the status of leading scorer and player of the year front-runner Mohamed Salah.
Klopp sounds very optimistic that he’ll have his Egyptian magician on the pitch tomorrow night (More on that here).
He does have to shuffle his midfield a bit though as team captain Jordan Henderson is suspended. That means Giorgino Wijnaldum moves over from the flank to the central holding role. Emre Can would be a choice in this slot, but he’s out injured. Wijnaldum was trialled in the defensive midfield position during yesterday’s dull goalless draw in the Merseyside derby.
His move to the middle means he’ll be flanked by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who had a massive showing in the home leg, and James Milner.
The Reds have a bit of an injury crisis in the back line, so they’ll really need Andrew Robertson to be ready. Klopp remains hopeful he will be.
The Sports Bank Liverpool FC Starting XI Prediction
LW – Sadio Mane CF- Roberto Firmino RW- Mohamed Salah
MF – James Milner MF- Giorgino Wijnaldum MF- Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
LB- Andrew Robertson CB – Virgil van Dijk CB – Dejan Lovren RB- Trent Alexander-Arnold
GK- Loris Karius
Jurgen Klopp Press Conference Video: go to this link
Injury Report: go to this link
Virgil van Dijk Press Conference Video: go to this link
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Odds via Bet365 City 4/9 Liverpool 5/1 Draw 15/4
Prediction: Man City 3, Liverpool 1
As always, feel free to post to your own City and/or Liverpool starting XI predictions, as well as your score predictions, in the comments section below.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.