The next two are huge. And I am massively worried about them.<\/p>\n

The next two Premier League matches are tomorrow at Brighton and Wednesday at Arsenal. After that, next weekend is a quarterfinal FA Cup matchup against Championship side Nottingham Forest, followed by the last international break of the season.<\/p>\n

If the Reds get the full six points from these next two games, they will be in good shape for the final push after the return from the international break. \u00a0But, if we drop points in either match, the league will feel like it\u2019s slipped away (even if it hasn\u2019t quite done so).<\/p>\n

I feel a bit of a sense of doom, in that I expect us to get only three or four points from these two. \u00a0We could drop points in either match (or, perish the thought, in both). Arsenal are better than Brighton, and Arsenal are currently in excellent form. \u00a0Nonetheless, I\u2019m more worried about tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Most of my worry stems from Liverpool\u2019s three most recent outings against Brighton. \u00a0Last season, Brighton beat Liverpool at Anfield 0-1, and held the Reds to a draw in Brighton. Earlier this season, Brighton came back from a two-goal deficit to earn a point at Anfield. Interestingly, Brighton does NOT park the bus against Liverpool. They come to play. They press, they pass out from the back, and they frequently dominate possession for five-to-15-minute spells sprinkled across the match. \u00a0Brighton are very good at possession and defending. In the first two-thirds of the pitch, they are \u201cboss,\u201d \u00a0as our Scouse friends might describe. But, Brighton are not very good at the most difficult part of the game \u2014 putting the ball in the back of the net. \u00a0Thus, despite their very good defense and midfield, Brighton find themselves 13th in the table, with a -6 goal difference. \u00a0Worryingly for them, they have also lost their last four Premier League contests, and they have failed to win in any of their last four Premier League home matches.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s intriguing how well Brighton has played against Liverpool, given that LFC generally dominates lesser-skilled opponents who play aggressively. Brighton\u2019s manager is smart, understands LFC\u2019s weaknesses, and looks to exploit them. \u00a0Brighton are likely to get behind LFC\u2019s defense on multiple occasions tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Liverpool look to break into a new rhythm, after slogging through the three matches that have followed the League Cup victory. I\u2019ll be interested to see how much Klopp rotates the team tomorrow. \u00a0I suspect it won\u2019t be very much. \u00a0I don\u2019t think Thiago or Curtis Jones will start this one, and at least one of the three forwards who started against Inter Milan on Tuesday will likely make way for Luis D\u00edaz tomorrow. \u00a0Otherwise, I think Klopp will go with the same group that played against Inter. I think Klopp and the sports science team will be hoping that the three days of rest between that game and this one, plus three more days of rest before the Arsenal match Wednesday, will be enough to allow most of the big boys to play all three of them. \u00a0Personally, I still think Mo Salah needs a rest, but I still don\u2019t think he\u2019ll get one until the FA Cup game rolls around next weekend.<\/p>\n

Matip and Firmino are available.<\/p>\n

Klopp vaguely indicated at his press conference that there are currently some players and staff who have tested positive for COVID this week. And, Thiago, VVD, and Konat\u00e9 were missing from training photos released by the club yesterday. So, those three may miss out for that reason.<\/p>\n

With all of that, here\u2019s my guess at a lineup:
\n
\nThe Reds should tonk this Brighton group. But we just haven\u2019t been doing so over recent contests, and we\u2019re not finishing well at the moment. \u00a0I\u2019m skeert.<\/p>\n

Brighton 1 – LFC 1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The next two are huge. And I am massively worried about them. The next two Premier League matches are tomorrow at Brighton and Wednesday at Arsenal. After that, next weekend is a quarterfinal FA Cup matchup against Championship side Nottingham Forest, followed by the last international break of the season. If the Reds get the full six points from these …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-match-previews","entry entry-center"],"yoast_head":"\n