Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has brought Alexander Isak back into the starting XI as the Reds take on West Ham United in the Premier League, looking to take the first step towards recovering from a dire run of form.
Alisson Becker starts in goal with Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Milos Kerkez lining up along the back four. Andy Robertson is on the bench, with Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch in midfield. Florian Wirtz, fit again after a muscle injury, is also in the team.
Up top, Isak is joined by Cody Gakpo, potentially with Wirtz off the right. Hugo Ekitike, who limped off midweek, comes out of the team again; he has a back injury, Slot said earlier in the week, but is not expected to be out for long. Mohamed Salah is on the bench.
"That's not so easy to say what I can do differently," Slot said during his pre-match press conference on Thursday. "It's quite normal if you win or lose or draw that you reflect on a game with decisions that you've made and what you've done during the week.
"[They are] all kind of the usual things managers do if they win or lose. But maybe you do it a little bit more if you lose. You try to find the answers to what is needed to win a game of football.
"In the end, it's about doing what this club is about. It's keep fighting no matter how difficult it is. We have to fight together.
Arne Slot emerges for a Liverpool training session.
Arne Slot emerges for a Liverpool training session. (Image: Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images)
"But it would also be nice if we would reward ourselves in the moments we play well, because people are very focused, and correctly, about the parts we don't play well.
"There are definitely large parts of the games that we do play well and where we do create a lot of chances. We tend to forget to reward ourselves in those moments.
"Every small mistake, or small error, immediately leads to us conceding a goal. That is a very bad cocktail to have."
Liverpool has lost nine of its last 12 games in all competitions. It was hammered at home in the Champions League against PSV midweek.
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"There is a lot of pressure if you work or play at a top club," Slot added. "Even more so if you start losing more games than this club or these players or this manager is used to.
"Then there is always pressure. But there was a lot of pressure last season as well for us to win the league. Now it's a different kind of pressure because we have lost so many games. What it does to me... I can just do the same, but I don't have to play."
Liverpool starting XI: Alisson; Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Wirtz, Isak, Gakpo. Subs: Mamardashvili, Endo, Salah, Chiesa, Jones, Ekitike, Robertson, Nyoni, Ngumoha.
West Ham starting XI: Areola, Wan Bissaka, Todibo, Mavrapanos, Diouf, Magassa, Potts, Fernandes, Bowen, Paqueta, Wilson. Subs: Hermansen, Walker-Peters, Kilman, Igor, Fullkrug, Guilherme, Rodriguez, Soucek, Irving.