Match Squads
Liverpool have named an experimental team, the majority of established stars given the night off. The defender, seeking to improve match sharpness, remains the single athlete to keep his place after the 3-2 defeat at the Bees last weekend. Backup shot-stopper Freddie Woodman and 18-year-old Northern Ireland winger Kieran Morrison are handed first starts, while the starting XI also boasts young attacker Rio Ngumoha and youthful engine room player Nyoni. The reserve players is above 21 years; the substitute is the most experienced sub with nine first-team outings on his record.
Crystal Palace by contrast retain six players from the team deployed for the narrow loss at Mikel Arteta’s side on Sunday. Marc Guéhi, Lacroix, Daniel Muñoz, Ismaïla Sarr, The attacker and Kamada all keep their places. He has a handful of strikes against this opponent in eight appearances for both clubs, while one of the players coming into the side, Eddie Nketiah, netted the decisive goal when the teams faced off at their home ground last month.
Match Squads
Liverpool: The keeper, The right-back, The youngster, Gomez, The left-back, The midfielder, Milos Kerkez, Kieran Morrison, Mac Allister, The attacker, Federico Chiesa.
Subs: The sub, The winger, Pilling, Kone-Doherty, Pinnington, The defender, Nallo, The player, Laffey.
The visitors: Benitez, The defender, Maxence Lacroix, Marc Guehi, The full-back, The midfielder, The midfielder, Sosa, Sarr, Pino, Nketiah.
Reserves: Henderson, Mitchell, The midfielder, The player, The forward, The full-back, Esse, Devenny, The sub.
Match referee: The referee (Yorkshire).
Fixture Context
The Merseysiders have often struggled against this opponent as difficult opponents. Not always – they lead the head-to-head – but when the London club perform a hit on the Liverpool, they really hit, and hit hard. Their 1990 cup meeting. Crystanbul. The recent curtain-raiser. Last month’s fixture that triggered this astonishing collapse of Arne Slot’s champion side, the beginning of a poor run in a sequence of five in six.
Now let’s fold another set of results into the mix. Of the last eight meetings between the clubs, Palace have won three (including the season opener as a win), the Reds just two. What’s even more worrying the Reds are the recent results at Liverpool’s stadium: Palace have secured a win and two draws of the previous three. The Eagles have a strong upper hand over tonight’s hosts at the moment.
Having said all that, the Eagles are in a bit of a rut of their own. They’ve lost three of their fixtures in all competitions, failing to win domestically since that previously mentioned loss-inducing fixture to Selhurst. So here are two sides who could do with a boost to turn their year around. That alone should give us a good possibility of some thrilling football tonight, though any broader implications may depend on what sides Slot and Oliver Glasner decide to put out; they’re unlikely to be full-strength teams. But we’ll find out about that in due course. The match begins is at 7.45pm GMT. It’s on!
