Jones dropped? How Liverpool could line up versus Crystal Pa

8:02am on Friday 18th December 2020
By Stefan Bienkowski

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will most likely still be in a fantastic mood after his side’s 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur but the German manager will know fine well that it won’t mean much if they can’t pick up all three points against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

However, ahead of the tie the Liverpool manager will have to contend with a number of injuries and tactical issues and figure out how best to set up his team to win the game.

In defence, Klopp will have Alisson between the posts and the usual full-back pairing of Andy Robertson on the left and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right.

The Liverpool manager is likely to stick with Fabinho at centre half and, despite his solid performance in the previous match against Tottenham, we’ll probably see Rhys Williams drop out of the side for the recently fit Joel Matip.

Klopp should be able to rely on his stable pairing of Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum in the centre of the park, but it remains to be seen who else joins them and takes up the third spot. Despite his excellent performance against Tottenham, it seems likely that Curtis Jones will make way for Naby Keita.

Up front, Liverpool are still without Diogo Jota and will almost certainly resort to the traditional front three of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Madio Sane. The latter hasn’t exactly been in the best run of form but it’s unlikely that Klopp is quite ready to drop the Senegalese international just yet.