Liverpool Manager Andoni Iraola
Liverpool Manager Andoni Iraola
Andoni Iraola has confirmed an important Liverpool decision ahead of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash with Chelsea, while providing updates on the fitness of Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Victor Munoz.
Liverpool head into the fourth-round tie on the back of four consecutive victories, most recently beating Brighton 2-0 at Anfield. They secured their place in the next round with a 3-1 win over Tottenham.
Wirtz could be available for selection after making encouraging progress, but Szoboszlai and Munoz face a tougher race to be fit.
Iraola said the club would assess the players again during training before making a final decision.
“We still have to wait. We train later. Florian [Wirtz] was quite fine and optimistic he would be available,” the Liverpool boss said.
“And with Dom and Victor, I’m not so sure. I don’t want to say no, but I think it’s more difficult than Florian,” he added.
Iraola also confirmed that Liverpool would rotate their squad but stressed that the team remained focused on securing a place in the quarter-finals.
“There will definitely be changes but we want to win the game. We want to be competitive. We have to see how the legs are. We’ve been trying to make changes from game to game. We want to be in the next round,” he said.
The Liverpool manager acknowledged the difficulty of facing Chelsea at this stage of the competition but insisted that his side would do everything possible to progress.
“We have been unlucky in the draw, playing Chelsea, and they’ve been unlucky also. But we want to earn the right to be in the draw again and that can only happen if you win.”
Chelsea arrive at Anfield after a 2-0 home defeat to Tottenham. Cole Palmer is suspended following his red card in that match, while Emiliano Martinez, Reece James, Jamie Gittens and Joao Pedro have all been ruled out.
Chelsea previously secured a 6-3 victory over Leeds United to reach the fourth round. Wednesday’s match kicks off at 8pm, with both sides aiming to continue their Carabao Cup campaigns.
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