Paul Merson has urged Jurgen Klopp to drop Cody Gakpo for Liverpool's crucial game against Chelsea on Saturday afternoon.
Both teams will be desperate to win at Anfield. Liverpool are ninth in the Premier League - 10 points behind Newcastle in fourth with a game in hand. Chelsea are spot lower and have the same amount of points, but they do not have a game in hand on the Magpies.
Neither team can afford to lose the game and Merson has urged Klopp to cut Gakpo, 23, from his starting XI. The Netherlands international joined Liverpool from PSV Eindhoven at the start of the January transfer window but is yet to open his Reds account.
Merson believes Gakpo needs time to adapt in English football and should not be risked against Chelsea. The Arsenal legend has predicted the clash will finish 1-1 and has also questioned whether it's a big game due to both teams being in mid-table.
"Liverpool got blown away by Brighton the other day," Merson, who was referencing Liverpool's recent 3-0 defeat at Brighton, told Sportskeeda. "I did mention that there was no way Brighton were going to lose that game, and they deserved to win."
Merson believes Klopp will rotate his squad after the 1-0 FA Cup win at Wolves on Tuesday night. The Liverpool boss handed starts to the likes of Caoimhin Kelleher, James Milner, Joe Gomez, Stefan Bajcetic, Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho at Molineux.
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Merson added: "Players who played against Wolves aren’t going to play on Saturday. Mohamed Salah isn’t closing down like he used to. They need to go back to closing down and winning the ball high up the pitch - they’re not doing that at all at the moment.
"Cody Gakpo’s been struggling a bit so far - I can’t remember players for Holland coming in and ripping it up in the Premier League in the last couple of years. He’ll need time, and he might need to come out of the team for a game or two."
Gakpo arrived in England in form after scoring three goals at the recent World Cup in Qatar. The forward also scored nine goals and provided 12 assists in 14 Eredivisie games during the first half of the campaign - and he scored three goals in the Europa League.
Merson believes whoever loses this game is out of the top-four race. He continued: "Ninth place against tenth place - is this a big game? I’ll go as far as to say that whoever loses this match is completely out of the Premier League top-four race.
"This is a massive game. The team that wins this game could go on a run and really push for a place in the top four. This is going to be an interesting game."
Merson believes Chelsea have a "chance" if they can get through the first 20 minutes of the game without conceding. He's highlighted the fact that both teams are struggling with big injury lists and thinks there is "not a lot between these two teams".
