The Reds are on the march, but they could find this part of the march to be a bit of a slog.
The win on Sunday was glorious, but it was also quite hard-fought. The high tempo and physical and emotional intensity of that match, along with the endorphin-rich high of the celebration, will naturally lead to a significant come down for this next match. In addition, I would expect some legs to be a little heavier than usual in training throughout the next week, or even two.
But the schedule at this point will not relent. Every match will continue to be the most important of the season. And, while every match will at least feel like an elimination game, some of them actually will be.
Today is an actual elimination match.
I believe these Reds are well up for it. Shortly after the final on Sunday, both Trent and Mo posted on Instagram that the victory represented 1/4. They are focused. They have their eyes on the prize. And they are back to being Jürgen’s Mentality Monsters.
Today’s match finds the Reds up against a familiar foe, who we have already handily dispatched in three matches this season — twice in the league, and once in our opening appearance in the League Cup. Norwich City will not lay down and die for us in this match, and we have recently seen that they actually offer a legitimate threat. Nonetheless, we certainly could have had a less favorable draw than facing Norwich City again at Anfield.
Norwich is fighting for its life in the Premier League, and manager Dean Smith will be very tempted to rest some of his top players in today’s match so that they will be at maximum fitness for the weekend. Hopefully, he gives in to that temptation. I certainly expect a huge amount of rotation today from Jürgen Klopp.
Klopp revealed at the press conference that Alisson will feature today in goal, just to keep him from gathering rust. I expect that, if the Reds advance, Kelleher will return as keeper in future FA Cup matches.
Apart from that, I would expect that everyone who featured for the full 120 minutes on Sunday to be either on the bench or not in the squad at all today. That includes Salah, Trent, Fabinho, Robbo, VVD, and Díaz (he was subbed at the very end of extra time).
Thiago’s injury is a tight hamstring, but an MRI revealed that it is not serious. Klopp expects him to be available again either next week against Inter Milan, or “definitely” after that. Firmino apparently remains out with an adductor injury, but the media again did a poor job of following up with Klopp about his status.
The squad otherwise remains relatively fit, as far as we know. And that means that there are quite a few players who will be itching to get a chance to play, after not featuring in Sunday’s final at Wembley. The biggest question in my mind is who will feature as defensive midfielder. I think it’s possible that Klopp could go with a double pivot, in part because he wants to avoid starting either Henderson or Fabinho. But, it’s more likely that we will stay in our typical formation, and that either Curtis Jones or Tyler Morton gets the nod at the #6. I’ll guess that Morton starts there. Because we have five subs available, Klopp will feel more comfortable giving a few youngsters a chance to start.
My guess at a lineup (with Morton in the middle and Conor Bradley at RB):
I expect Salah and Díaz to be “break glass in case of emergency” subs. I think Henderson and Keïta are likely to make second-half appearances if the game is still in doubt, since they played only about 70 minutes on Sunday. Milner and Elliott might also make an appearance at some point. In the forward line, Kaide Gordon could see some action, and either he or AOC could be the choice to start in Mo’s slot on the right side.
Although I expect this freshened lineup to bring plenty of energy, I think we will still be missing fluency with these makeshift personnel. Hopefully, the intensity of the players, their drive to progress toward another trophy, and the celebratory Anfield crowd will prove more than enough to dispatch the Canaries.
LFC 2 – Norwich City 0
