The Reds now have almost a fully-fit squad. Andy Robertson is suspended, and will miss both today and Sunday’s showdown with Chelsea. Harvey Elliott is still slowly working his way back. And, because journalists covering the club aren’t entirely competent, it’s unclear whether Divock Origi is ready. But everyone else is available. COVID-19 victims Thiago, Van Dijk, Fabinho, and Jones are all back. Henderson, Keïta, and Milner are fit. Firmino is back.
And, through the combined result of the COVID quarantines and the postponement of the Leeds match, the Reds are not only fit, they are also strangely quite well-rested. Fabinho and VVD last saw action on December 11 against Aston Villa, and Thiago last played against Newcastle on December 16. Most of the rest of our starters either missed the League Cup match entirely, or played only limited minutes.
Our opponents today, on the other hand, are neither fit nor rested. Their entire starting back four is out with injury, as is key attacker Harvey Barnes. Jamie Vardy is nursing a sore hamstring, although I expect him to start nonetheless. Meanwhile, a large (though unnamed) group of their players are still regaining fitness after sitting out in recent weeks due to a COVID-19 quarantine. And, of course, this week Leicester City have been in the Grinder of the Festive Fixture schedule. They played at Man City two days ago, and they fielded a very strong lineup at Anfield last week in the League Cup match.
Leicester City are a paradox. They are both a bit crap, yet still quite a bit dangerous. Both of these paradoxical qualities have been on full display during both of Leicester’s last two matches – the League Cup loss to Liverpool’s reserve side last week, and the strange 6-3 loss to Manchester City on Boxing Day. In that match, Leicester were down 4-0 after 25 minutes, fought back after halftime to bring the score to 4-3, and then finally succumbed 6-3.
Leicester City still have a great counterattack. Vardy finds the net against Liverpool with sickening regularity — he has 10 goals in 14 appearances against the Reds. And, on their day, players like Tielemans and Maddison are both well-capable of cutting any defense apart, especially on the break.
Unfortunately for Leicester, despite their continuing strength on the counter, this season they have been poor defensively, and now their already-porous defensive unit is in a shambles due to injuries. Thus, the team they will have available against LFC today will not be well-suited to either parking the bus or to applying intense defensive pressure. In my opinion, Leicester City’s current defensive unit is well-suited only to being put to the sword by a fit, rested, and highly-motivated Liverpool team.
Today, I anticipate that Klopp will start something close to his most-favored lineup, although Robbo is obviously unavailable, and I suspect that Thiago will be on the bench because he only returned to training a couple of days ago. In Thiago’s place, I suspect Naby Keïta will start, after his fantastic substitute appearance against Leicester in the League Cup victory. Fabinho is currently sitting on four yellow cards in the Premier League, which means he will serve a one-match suspension when he gets his next one. Klopp could protect him from missing out against Chelsea by sitting him today, though I doubt it. The other interesting question is which three of our four available forwards will start. We don’t play Chelsea until Sunday, which is enough time for rest and recovery for whoever starts this one.
My guess for today’s lineup:
The Premier League can be full of lots of surprises. Nonetheless, I’m expecting an ass-whipping.
Leicester City 0 – LFC 5
