Liverpool kick off their defence of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night with a all Premier League clash against West Ham United at Anfield.
And the Reds will hope to win the competition for an 11th time after their dramatic victory over Chelsea in last year’s Wembley final, in which Virgil van Dijk scored a last-gasp extra-time winner for an injury hit side that included a number of Academy talents.
There may be more young players included in the third round tie against Julien Lopetegui’s side, who come to Anfield on the back of a very difficult start to the new season.
Arne Slot will give updates on Liverpool team news, Alisson Becker’s hamstring injury and may well be asked about the contract situations of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah when he takes his pre-match press conference.
Slot has plenty of big decisions to make all over the pitch on Wednesday night, including in his forward line. Darwin Nunez was handed his first competitive start under his new head coach on Saturday and he impressed against Bournemouth, scoring a superb goal to open his account for the season.
The Uruguayan earned plenty of praise for his display, including from captain Virgil van Dijk. You can read all about what the Dutchman had to say here.
Good morning from the AXA Training Centre. Arne Slot will be with us shortly to give his thoughts ahead of Liverpool’s Carabao Cup clash with West Ham United.
It will be really interesting to see what the Dutchman does with his squad on Wednesday night. Jurgen Klopp often used this competition to hand out vital minutes to some of his fringe players but, with Premier League opposition travelling to Anfield in the third round, will we see Slot use a different approach?
Could it be a full eleven changes for Arne Slot tomorrow?
I very much doubt it, but I think we’ll see some interesting decisions. Jarell Quansah should return for the first time since he was brought off at half-time on the opening day at Ipswich, we’re likely to see Curtis Jones start and Federico Chiesa may well get the nod from the beginning.
Slot will reveal more shortly.
He probably wouldn’t have played tomorrow night but there certainly will be questions about Alisson’s fitness in today’s press conference.
The Brazilian missed the win over Bournemouth with a hamstring concern and it’ll be interesting whether it was just a precaution or something more serious.
I’d expect that to be one of the very first questions put to Slot this morning when he takes his seat for the press conference.
