Liverpool and Southampton will both be without head coaches as the pair meet in the Carabao Cup this midweek. Arne Slot picked up a third booking of the campaign and will therefore be suspended while Russell Martin has been fired.
Slot would have been hoping to use this fixture as a chance to rotate and ideally the likes of Virgil van Dijk wouldn’t have even traveled amid a hectic schedule. But with defensive injuries and suspensions nearly reaching the point of crisis, there might not be much choice but for them to feature in some capacity.
Kostas Tsimikas was spotted training on his own last week as he continues to recover from a knock while Liverpool is also without Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley at the moment. Andy Robertson’s red card only brings a one-match ban for the Scotland captain but he also appeared to pick up an injury issue when he was clattered into by Issa Diop against Fulham.
“That moment, the first one where he gets the kick on the knee — hopefully it isn’t a big injury,” Van Dijk said. “That’s a dangerous one and in the moments after it happened, it is not easy for him or all of us.
“But we are there for him like always, and he has been so good for us, and he will be still for us. Hopefully, no bad injury, and he can be back in the team and be good again.”
Young talent Amara Nallo has impressed this season at youth level and he has made the bench a couple of times recently but it would be a big call to throw him in away from home. Jarell Quansah will start and Joe Gomez might have to go again. James Norris is an option at left-back, though Slot could have someone like Cody Gakpo playing a kind of wing-back role again.
