da apostaganha： This Boxing Day is going to be rather special. Of course, while most are still relaxing with their families and friends and the chestnuts are roasting on an open fire, Liverpool will be welcoming Leicester City at Anfield.
da cassino： The clash between the first and the second-placed team in the Premier League might very well decide whether the race is done and dusted or not. If Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes manage to snatch some points from Jurgen Klopp’s Reds, it might add another twist to this fantastic campaign.
And considering Liverpool are still fresh from their big Club World Cup victory over Flamengo and with weary legs, they just might be vulnerable and thus, open for a surprise.
Still, Klopp will most likely deploy his absolute strongest XI regardless of that as this game is pretty much up there with the most important ones in the ongoing season.
So with that in mind, here’s what we think the Reds will deploy come Boxing Day:
There’s really no point discussing the goalkeeper position as Liverpool are definitely going to deploy Alisson Becker between the sticks.
The Brazilian goalie has been immense for them throughout the 2018/19 campaign and is continuing his hard work and dedication in this year as well. The fans love him and the Reds are statistically a better team with him around – for those reasons, this one is a no-brainer.
A similar thing could be said for their backline that should consist out of – from left to right – Andrew Robertson at left-back, Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk in the centre of their defence, and Trent Alexander-Arnold manning the right-back position.
With both Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren out injured, you could argue that the spot next to Van Dijk was fairly open but Gomez is the only option Klopp has in the squad.
But even with that being said, he is, in fact, pretty reliable, as he has shown in his performances against the likes of Watford and Bournemouth earlier in the month.
Can you name the result these iconic Liverpool images belong to? Give it a go now…
We still don’t know for sure whether Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be out for a long time or not following his injury in the Club World Cup last Saturday but Klopp probably won’t risk him straight away and we could see a midfield trident of Jordan Henderson, £48m man Naby Keita and the 29-year-old Gini Wijnaldum for that reason.
In this scenario, the Dutchman is likely to be deployed in the no.6 role as the defensive midfielder while the other two are positioned higher up the pitch.
Finally, the attacking trident up front picks itself as Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah are all more than just likely to start the game against Leicester City.
In other news, many Spurs fans were not happy with one man’s dreadful performance vs Chelsea…