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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp must decide whether to keep faith in Joe Gomez in central defense or trade him for Joel Matip or Fabinho. The defender fought in humiliation 7-2 at the hands of Aston Villa before the international break and was suspended after an hour.
Fabinho played brilliantly while Gomez was injured in the win at Chelsea last month, while Matip is back after a muscle injury.
And Klopp could choose to give England’s Gomez time away from the team at Goodison Park given Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s fiery form.
If you choose Fabinho alongside Virgil van Dijk, returning captain Jordan Henderson or Thiago Alcantara, back in training after a 10-day isolation period following their positive COVID-19 test, they could take the No. 6 spot in the midfield.
And for Henderson and Thiago to enter the team, without having to sacrifice Gini Wijnaldum, Klopp could leave Fabinho on the baseline with a clash against Everton, perhaps too complicated a task to ask Matip to return directly to the side. for .
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With Fabinho and Van Dijk on defense, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold will line up on both sides as they seek their first away wins in a Merseyside derby.
Adrian will continue in goal with the Reds opting not to sign another backup shot stopper while Alisson remains injured ahead of yesterday’s national transfer window deadline.
He will be hoping for an improved display after making a mistake that allows Villa to take an early 1-0 lead last time out.
If Fabinho falls on defense, Klopp must choose between Thiago and Henderson at the base of midfield and the captain is the favorite given his authority in the middle and the extra run he will offer in front of the baseline.
Naby Keita is unavailable for the away side, joining Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the bench.
Thiago and Wijnaldum would operate slightly ahead of the Liverpool leader with Thiago tasked with finding space for Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
Mane returns to the team after missing the Villa debacle having, like Thiago, tested positive for coronavirus.
Roberto Firmino is likely to keep his place in the middle and complete the three familiar forwards despite Diogo Jota’s display for Portugal this week in international service.
Klopp came out in full defense of the Brazilian on the eve of the short trip through Stanley Park amid criticism for his lack of goals.
Firmino has yet to find the net in 10 games against Everton and the German manager said: “I don’t know when it becomes a problem for me … but it is not even close to becoming a problem.”
“These are the things where I have to be different from the outside world. I can’t judge moments, periods, how you judge them; for me the important thing is how influential the player is, how he works for the team.
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“We lost the last Premier League game, before that we had won them all. Bobby hadn’t scored in them, but he had been incredibly influential.
“Yes, we want him to score. We want him to come in the positions where he scores. Yes, he could have scored at Villa, early. And a lot, twice for sure.
“If a player like Bobby doesn’t score, people focus on that. So sometimes you find that even once in a while he loses the ball. So people ask, ‘Is that Bobby Firmino?’ Yes he is. He scored two goals for Brazil. He’s in great shape, to be honest. “
And Klopp added, as his team looks to bounce back from the defeat at Villa and avoid back-to-back Premier League losses for the first time in his five years at Anfield: “I get that feeling more and more during the hours after the game than maybe after all the positive things that happened to us took a good smack in the middle of our faces to shake us up.
“There is no other reason why 7-2 should be good. But if it was for that reason, then it could have been the biggest game of the season.
“And that’s why we will try to use it, why we don’t want to forget it.”
Liverpool have not lost a derby against Everton since October 2010, but Klopp warned: “Of course, from my point of view, you can [Liverpool’s unbeaten run vs Everton] Carry on, but we never think about it before playing them.
“Before playing Everton not once did we think ‘they don’t win anyway’, these kinds of things we never had in mind. It’s the hardest job for us tomorrow and we’ll be ready for that.”
He predicted Liverpool XI will face Everton
(4-3-3): Adrian; Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Thiago, Wijnaldum; Bad, Firmino, Mane.
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