Liverpool take on Plymouth in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday fresh from booking their place in the Carabao Cup final.
Memories of the Reds’ double-winning 2021/22 campaign are still fresh in supporters’ minds and they’d love to go deep in the FA Cup once again.
On paper, the tie against Plymouth is a favourable one for Liverpool. The Pilgrims sit in last place in the Championship having parted with manager Wayne Rooney in January.
But with one eye on Wednesday’s game with Everton, Arne Slot is set to heavily rotate his Liverpool squad. That could open the door for Plymouth. Here’s the XI we expect to see Slot field at Home Park
DEFENCE
Who would play in goal was a bit of a talking point for Thursday’s semi-final with Tottenham. Caoimhin Kelleher got the nod in the end, though, and we think that will be the case again on Sunday.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is still injured for this one, with hope that he will return in midweek. As a result, Conor Bradley looks set to build on what was a terrific performance against Spurs.
Centre-back is an interesting one, with Jarell Quansah virtually certain to make the line-up. Alongside him, we think Slot will finally recall Joe Gomez, who has now been back in training for more than a week.
At left-back it will be Kostas Tsimikas, with Andy Robertson rested ahead of Wednesday.
Midfield
Liverpool’s midfield have been excellent of late. Curtis Jones’ return has been a welcome one, alleviating some of the pressure on Alexis Mac Allister.
Slot has other options besides, however, and we think he’ll use them on Sunday.
Slot has been raving about James McConnell all week. McConnell is a ‘special’ player and the 20-year-old looks set to get another chance to show his class from the start at Plymouth.
Alongside McConnell we’d expect Wataru Endoto come in, with Harvey Elliott expected to provide a creative spark from a more advanced role.
Attack
Up front, Slot has several players who could do with getting some substantial minutes in the FA Cup.
Federico Chiesa is surely set to start after failing to feature in the Reds’ past two matches. Another 90-minute display hopefully beckons for the Italian.
Meanwhile, both Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota are candidates to start having failed to nail down a place in the regular XI of late. Given we think Jota will be pencilled in for Wednesday, we think it’ll be Nunez who gets the nod here.
That leaves one spot to fill on the Liverpool left, and due to his cameo off the bench on Thursday, we’d back Luis Diaz to be the man who steps in.
