Premier League Liverpool v Chelsea: Team news

Liverpool are assessing the fitness of several players ahead of Sunday’s game against Chelsea at Anfield.

Alisson Becker is definitely out due to the injury he picked up when the Reds signed off for the October international break by beating Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

And, during his pre-match press conference on Friday morning, Arne Slot said he would need to wait until after his squad had trained in the afternoon to gather further information on availability for the Premier League meeting with Enzo Maresca’s team.

The head coach stated: “Alisson is for sure not with us in the upcoming weeks, that’s clear. So, that’s a blow for him and for us because I think he did really well this season and did so well for this club for so many years.

“Now the good thing is, and I said this many times, that Caoimhin [Kelleher] did well for us in previous years and this season also, so we have a good replacement. But you always want all of your players available.

“Now we’ve got quite some issues from players coming back from the national teams, and we can only judge that perfectly today because today is the first time that they are all in and the first time that they are all training together again. So, let’s see after the session where everybody is.

“Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] missed one game [for Argentina], he played the second one. Kostas [Tsimikas] missed out in the first game against England so I can name them all but we’ve got a few issues going on and let’s wait and see where we are after today. [Wataru] Endo as well was also sick.”

Harvey Elliott remains sidelined with a foot problem, though the No.19 continued his recovery with a gym and running session earlier this week.

Two Liverpool players will reach appearance landmarks if they feature on Sunday, with Kelleher and Ibrahima Konate set for their 50th and 100th games respectively for the club.

Chelsea, meanwhile, will be without defenders Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana due to suspension, but head coach Maresca told the media on Friday that he has no injury concerns before the trip to Merseyside.

Maresca said: “Finally we are all available, so we have all the squad available – [apart from] the suspended ones.”

That means captain Reece James may make his first appearance of the season at Anfield.

“He is available, yes. Finally he is back,” Maresca added.

“He worked with us all [through] the international break and it’s good news, especially for him because being injured is not a good feeling. So, finally he is back.”

Team Comparison — English Premier League

Liverpool

Chelsea

Attack

Defence

Distribution

Games played7

77

7Goals13

1316

16 Shots on target44

4441

41Shooting accuracy55.0%

55.0%56.2%

56.2%Conversion rate16.3%

16.3%21.9%

21.9%Assists11

1113

13

Cucurella and Fofana have been ever-presents in the Blues’ back line in the Premier League so far this season and Maresca was questioned over how he will seek to cover for their enforced absences.

The Italian replied: “Yeah, it’s not a problem. I said since we started that I am very happy with the squad, I am very happy with the players that we are using.

“Since we started we tried to share a little bit the minutes between all the competitions we have, so we have two suspended players who are not able to play and we’re going to find different players that can play.

“Chilly [Ben Chilwell] is one of our players. Unfortunately, apart from yesterday… for the last three or four days he was ill so he didn’t get any sessions and we will see how he is today and tomorrow.”

On the challenge of facing Liverpool, Maresca noted: “They are doing fantastic. Very good players, very good manager, very good club, and I think they are doing a fantastic job.

“But it’s already many years that Liverpool is there, so it’s continuing to do that and I think it’s something very important for them.

Last match

Crystal Palace 0-1 Liverpool (October 5): Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Jones, Gakpo, Jota.

Chelsea 1-1 Nottingham Forest (October 6): Sanchez, Gusto, Fofana, Colwill, Cucurella, Caicedo, Fernandez, Madueke, Palmer, Sancho, Jackson.