Newcastle United are expected to face a strong Liverpool side at St James’ Park tomorrow. Jurgen Klopp has endured injuries to key performers in recent months, resulting in the Reds slipping out of the Champions League picture.
Brushing aside bitter rivals Everton on Monday, as well as the long-awaited return of several absentees, triggered talk of a potential second-half-of-the-season resurgence. The German confirmed “options are there” for Liverpool ahead of the six-pointer.
"We had some senior players not (able to get) in the squad for the first time in a long time,” Klopp told reporters. “We have options now. We had a lot of senior players not involved in the squad for the first time.
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“The options are there. It's massive. Bobby was eight weeks, and Diogo was longer. We have to look at how we can use them."
The big news is that Virgil van Dijk should start against Newcastle. Since arriving in 2018, the Dutchman has developed into one of the world’s best defenders and provided the bedrock for Liverpool’s success.
Van Dijk settled for a place on the bench against Everton but should line up tomorrow evening. Joe Gomez had filled in for the 31-year-old but will likely drop to the bench, with Joel Matip keeping his place.
Liverpool are also boosted by Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota coming through the Toffees test unscathed. Neither had featured for the Reds in 2023 but both made cameo appearances in the 2-0 win over Everton.
With Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo scoring, the only plausible makeweight would be Darwin Nunez - without a goal in six Premier League games - should Klopp take a risk. In midfield, Serbian youngster Stefan Bajcetic received the club’s player of the month award and will likely start alongside Fabinho and former Sunderland man Jordan Henderson.
Ibrahima Konate, Luis Diaz, Thiago and Arthur Melo remain sidelined. ChronicleLive predicts just the one change from the Liverpool team that beat Everton.
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