Robbie Fowler has admitted to being surprised at Arne Slot’s decision to drop Trent Alexander-Arnold against Newcastle United.
The Reds are at St James’ Park this evening as they look to strengthen their position at the top of the Premier League table, having gone nine points clear following Sunday’s comfortable win over Manchester City.
With the games coming thick and fast, and injuries limiting his options in defense, there is little opportunity for Slot to rest some of his big names at the moment. Nevertheless, the Liverpool boss made three changes to the side that saw off City at the weekend.
Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones both returned to the line-up as they replaced Luis Diaz and Dominik Szoboszlai in attack and midfield, respectively. Both positions have seen regular rotation this season, with little surprise as to those changes.
The call to drop Alexander-Arnold to the bench did catch one or two off guard, though, with Jarell Quansah making his first league start since the opening game of the season at Ipswich. The decision comes as speculation over a potential move to Real Madrid continues for the right-back.
Alexander-Arnold did make his first appearance since returning from a hamstring injury at the weekend, with Slot admitting in his pre-match press conference that he wouldn’t risk playing him for 90 minutes yet. Nevertheless, former striker Fowler was surprised to see the 26-year-old make way.
“Liverpool play ever so well,” Fowler told Amazon Prime Video. “There's confidence, all the players are comfortable with each other and the manager. Trent not playing is a little bit of a surprise, he hasn't played many games this year, but the players who have come in have all done well.”
Liverpool.com says: This does look to just be a simple case of keeping Alexander-Arnold as fresh as possible. With Conor Bradley out injured at the moment, Liverpool can’t really afford to have another defender breaking down.
Just as important as keeping the current winning run going is making sure the Reds don’t pick up any more injuries. That means Slot may have to adjust with some players – as he is doing with Quansah this evening.