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Liverpool take on Chelsea in Saturday afternoon’s early kick-off, and here’s how we think they should line up<\/h2>\n <\/p>\n\n
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\nGiorgi Mamardashvili and Rio Ngumoha of Liverpool during a training session. (Photo by Andrew Powell\/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n
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At one stage Liverpool’s meeting with Chelsea at Anfield looked as though it could be a shootout for the fifth and final Champions League place, but things look rather different now.<\/p>\n
Because while the Reds were able to string three wins together prior to going to Manchester United last weekend, it has been the Londoners’ complete drop off in form – and six consecutive Premier League defeats – which has completely transformed the picture when it comes to the European places, with Liverpool now in the box seat to return to the continent’s top table next season.<\/p>\n
A win would mean that that job is almost done, but who should Arne Slot pick for the lunchtime meeting with interim boss Calum McFarlane’s side?<\/p>\n
Our writers have made their picks.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Arne Slot provides Alexander Isak and Alisson updates as surprise Liverpool return on cards<\/span><\/span>READ MORE: Desire Doue Liverpool ‘dream’ as Xabi Alonso sent manager warning<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nIan Doyle<\/h3>\n Liverpool are almost near the end. Thankfully. But there is still work to be done to get the Champions League place done and dusted, and Chelsea are a team who, if we’re being honest, are probably going to be playing with a certain amount of freedom.<\/p>\n
What, then, is Reds boss Arne Slot to do?<\/p>\n
The good news is Giorgi Mamardashvili is back so should be able to return between the sticks, despite Freddie Woodman doing a good stint. Milos Kerkez can return at left-back, but the rest of the defence is the same with Curtis Jones right-back and Ibrahima Konate partnering captain Virgil van Dijk at centre-back.<\/p>\n
It’s a return to 4-2-3-1 , with Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai at the base of the midfield and Florian Wirtz the number 10.<\/p>\n
Up top, Alexander Isak is back to lead the line with Jeremie Frimpong on the right and Cody Gakpo on the left. After the game, there will only be two more matches remaining. Rejoice.<\/p>\n
My team (4-2-3-1): Mamardashvili; Jones, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai; Frimpong, Wirtz, Gakpo; Isaac.<\/strong><\/p>\nFOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE!<\/strong> All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo’s dedicated LFC Facebook page<\/strong><\/p>\nMark Jones<\/h3>\n The news around Giorgi Mamardashvili and Alexander Isak is positive, but throwing a goalkeeper in from the start after an injury is a bit different to throwing in a centre-forward.<\/p>\n
You could argue that Isak has been rushed back a little too soon at times this season, and while starting the Swede more often than not in the final few games of the campaign does make sense, I’d be minded to hold him back against a Chelsea side that could wilt in the second half and offer him a few chances.<\/p>\n
Cody Gakpo has done quite well when placed in a central attacking role too, so I’ll go with an hour of Rio Ngumoha on the left against his former club, then replacing the teenager with half an hour of Isak with Gakpo moving to the left.<\/p>\n
The right of the attack is a little trickier but I’ll let Jeremie Frimpong go again from there, with the other selections of note being Curtis Jones at right-back, Milos Kerkez back on the left and Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai as a midfield pair we should see a lot more of.<\/p>\n
My team (4-2-3-1): Mamardashvili; Jones, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai; Frimpong, Wirtz, Ngumoha; Gakpo<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool take on Chelsea in Saturday afternoon’s early kick-off, and here’s how we think they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}