Ryan Gravenberch will return to the Liverpool starting lineup after serving a suspension when they take on Newcastle United at St. James’ Park on Monday.
Liverpool will aim to keep pace with Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur atop the Premier League when they lock horns with Newcastle United at St. James’ Park on Monday night. Arne Slot has received a mixed bag of updates on the team news front ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Jeremie Frimpong is the most notable absentee, with the Dutch full-back recovering from a hamstring injury that will keep him out until after the international break. Meanwhile, Joe Gomez is struggling with an achilles issue, and he may not feature either.
However, Conor Bradley has resumed training after recovering from a minor injury, thus boosting Arne Slot’s right-back options. Meanwhile, during his pre-match press conference, the Dutch tactician provided a fitness update on Frimpong and Bradley.
The Liverpool manager said, “Conor trained for a few minutes with us today for the first time. The medical team was completely right about Jeremie to tell me that I had to take him off, because he is out until the end of the international break and that happened in the game.”
“I already said immediately after the game that it had nothing to do with how he played, but we felt he had an issue with his hamstring. And with ‘we’ I don’t mean me, but the medical staff. And they were completely right. So, a good call to take him off, otherwise he would have maybe been out for longer. And we expect to have him back after the international break.”
Responding to a question on the fitness of his right-back options, the Liverpool boss said, “No, Jeremie has a very positive injury record. Conor has been out once or twice last season. These things happen in a season. We only have at the moment two injuries, unfortunately it is two for the same position.”
“But the good thing is some others can play in that position as well. Wata [Endo] played in that position for a few minutes, Dominik Szoboszlai already played in that position. So, there are other options we can explore. Joe Gomez is definitely one of them, but for him to play already 20 minutes, that was already quite a lot. I wouldn’t say he had a setback but he wasn’t able to train three days in a row completely with the team.”
As suggested by Slot, Dominik Szoboszlai should start as the right-back, joining Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk, and Milos Kerkez in the backline. Alisson Becker will retain his spot ahead of Giorgi Mamardashvili, with Liverpool lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation in front of him against Newcastle United on Monday.
As for the midfield unit, there is no looking past Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch in the double pivot, with the latter available after serving a suspension. Florian Wirtz will reprise the no. 10 role, with Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah continuing as the two wide attackers. Finally, Hugo Ekitike will lead the line for the away side against Newcastle United.
Predicted Liverpool XI: Alisson, Szoboszlai, Konate, van Dijk, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo, Ekitike