"Pretty much (everyone is fit). I had a look last time on my smart phone and it looks like everyone is available again."
Jurgen Klopp ’s declaration that he has a fully fit squad to choose from for Liverpool ’s trip to Man City on Sunday would have been music to Kopites’ ears with their side’s Premier League title challenge on the line. Win at the Etihad and the Reds go top. They know what they have to do.
Admittedly Klopp’s injury update at his pre-match press conference on Friday morning was swiftly undone by the absence of Roberto Firmino from the training pictures released later that afternoon. The common consensus had been the Brazilian should start at the Etihad, with it now unclear if he’ll be available for the game or not.
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But even without him, this Liverpool squad is strong and their attacking depth has never looked better. When Pep Guardiola famously voiced his fear of the Reds’ traditional front three on the eve of their 2017/18 Champions League quarter-final clash in City’s ‘All or Nothing’ Amazon Prime documentary, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Firmino were untouchable when it came to a Klopp starting XI.
Now Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota ensure the German has to fit five into three, and can still call upon Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi in reserve. Beyond that, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Harvey Elliott are also options.
For so long Man City have boasted the best squad in the Premier League but this season that narrative has changed. Guardiola has called upon the services of 25 different players in the Premier League so far this season. Yet deducting the sold Ferran Torres, youngsters Kayky, Cole Palmer, James McAtee and Liam Diap, as well as Benjamin Mendy, it leaves the Spaniard with just 19 senior players to select from. Discount the injured Ruben Dias and his options are depleted further.
In contrast, Klopp has utilised 27 different players in the Premier League so far this season. Deducting youngsters Tyler Morton and Kaide Gordon as well as Neco Williams, who left on loan in January, it leaves the German with 24 senior players to choose from as Liverpool continue to chase an unprecedented quadruple.
Able to name a 20-man squad, it reiterates just how strong his squad currently is. Even if Firmino is missing at the Etihad, he will still have to leave out three senior players.
It’s a stark cry from the Reds’ recent clashes with Man City, where the absence of Virgil van Dijk overshadowed both meetings between the two sides last season, with the likes of Joel Matip, Joe Gomez , Fabinho, Diogo Jota and Thiago Alcantara also joining him on the sidelines for one game or the other. Meanwhile, even for this season’s 2-2 draw at Anfield, Trent Alexander-Arnold was an injured spectator.
As such, you could forgive Liverpool for entering this one with a feeling of needing to set the record straight. After all, they’ve had to face their strongest rivals with one hand tied behind their back every single time since their emphatic 3-1 win over City at Anfield in November 2019 during their previous title-winning year.
Klopp will certainly have plenty of tough decisions to make as he prepares his side for Sunday’s game. Boasting limited injuries for the majority of 2022, he has tended to rotate the players who he leaves out. However, he might have hinted at his thought-process ahead of travelling to the Etihad when discussing Salah’s form on Friday.
“Big game experience helps,” he told reporters. “Definitely. It's not the only important thing you consider when you make a line-up but it's one of them.”
Such a declaration could point towards Elliott or Curtis Jones as the junior members of the Reds squad perhaps being missing from the squadsheet come 3.30pm on Sunday. Meanwhile, if Firmino is ruled out, a recall to the bench for the ultimate big-game player in Divock Origi could even be on the cards.
The likes of Gomez, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Minamino are the other players who will be battling it out for those final places in Klopp’s matchday squad. But regardless of whoever misses out, the Reds bench will certainly be stronger than on the two previous times the German has won at the Etihad before.
In November 2015, as Liverpool ran out 4-1 winners just a month after Klopp's arrival, Adam Bogdan, Kolo Toure, Connor Randall, Joe Allen, Jordon Ibe, Christian Benteke and Daniel Sturridge made up the seven names in reserve. Fast forward to April 2018 for the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals and it was Simon Mignolet, Nathaniel Clyne, Ragnar Klavan, Alberto Moreno, Danny Ings, Dominic Solanke and Ben Woodburn starting proceedings in a spectatorship role.
Yet ironically despite this fresh depth, if Firmino is passed fit, it would be no surprise to see Klopp submit a starting XI featuring 10 of the 11 names that started when the Reds’ won the Champions League final in 2019, with Gini Wijnaldum the only player from that side no longer at Anfield. Thiago Alcantara would be the new name in such a side, but boasts more big game experience than most, having played for both Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
However, Guardiola knows that XI, featuring the front three that he feared so much and his compatriot who he managed in Catalonia and Bavaria, inside out. Perhaps this is where Liverpool could taste the true benefit from the presence of Jota and Diaz, or even, when it comes to clashes with City, the rarely unleashed Naby Keita.
There’s plenty for Klopp to ponder ahead of Sunday’s trip to the Etihad. He has so many options to choose from but with so much also at stake, it’s a Liverpool line-up he has to get right as the Reds prepare for their biggest game of the season so far.
