After an eight-day break, Liverpool return to action on Sunday afternoon, taking on Nottingham Forest in a Premier League clash.
While the Reds’ league campaign on the whole has been disappointing, they still have plenty to play for this season.
Anyone else getting that sinking feeling ahead of Sunday?
Why are we SO bad against Forest?
Arne Slot gestures at his watch during Liverpool's Premier League match against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground (Credit: Getty Images/Shaun Botterill).
Photo Credit: Getty Images/Shaun Botterill
They head into the weekend’s action knowing that a win over Nottingham Forest would see them, at least until Monday night, go level on points with Manchester United.
The race for a Champions League place is heating up, and with all of Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea’s end-of-season fixtures quite tough, Arne Slot cannot afford to make any mistakes in meetings against ‘weaker’ sides such as Forest.
Ahead of the game, there are a few key decisions that the Dutchman will need to get right.
Mohamed Salah dropped as Joe Gomez returns for Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest
Firstly, who will start at right-back? Jeremie Frimpong is still out, along with Conor Bradley.
But Slot did say on Thursday that Joe Gomez, who has been called ‘outstanding‘ in 2026, is ready to start after his recent return.
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Liverpool have been using midfielders out of position to cover at full-back this term, but the return of Gomez, coupled with an eight-day break following the Brighton win, means the Englishman should now be ready to come back into the XI.
The remainder of the back-four is expected to be the usual Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Milos Kerkez combination, with Alisson in net.
The midfield and forward line are where we could see Slot make a couple of changes.
Now Gomez is back, and Dominik Szoboszlai has served his suspension, the manager actually has some selection decisions to make for a change.
The midfield pivot is likely to be Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch, but which trio will play ahead of them?
Right now, Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz, Szoboszlai, and Mohamed Salah are all competing for three places.
It would make the most sense for Gakpo to be dropped, Wirtz to play off the left, Szoboszlai in the middle, and Salah off the right.
However, we have seen plenty of times this season that Slot prefers to select his Dutch counterpart whenever possible.
Szoboszlai has been Liverpool’s best player this season, so he can’t really be left out, nor can Wirtz, given his significant improvement over the last few months.
In turn, while it definitely should not happen, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see a front four of Hugo Ekitike, Gakpo, Szoboszlai and Wirtz.
Got a horrible feeling Slot is going to keep Gakpo in the XI and drop Salah 😬 Who should be the front four vs Forest?
Liverpool predicted XI vs Nottingham Forest
Liverpool predicted XI vs Nottingham Forest
Let us know how you think Slot will line up his team on Sunday.
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