Liverpool will aim to secure a spot in the FA Cup semi-finals when they lock horns with Manchester City at the Etihad on Saturday afternoon. Arne Slot has received positive updates on the team news front ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Jeremie Frimpong, Mohamed Salah, and Federico Chiesa are fit and available to take on Manchester City after recovering from their minor issues. Additionally, Alexander Isak is in contention to get some minutes after completing his rehabilitation process following a long-term leg injury.
However, Alisson Becker (muscular), Conor Bradley (knee), and Wataru Endo (ankle) remain in the treatment room. Meanwhile, during his pre-match press conference, Slot provided fitness updates on Alisson, Frimpong, Isak, and Salah.
The Liverpool head coach said, “He [Alisson] will not be part of the Paris Saint-Germain games as well. He will be out for a bit longer. Towards the end of the season we expect him to be fit again. He [Salah] is [fit]. He trained with us yesterday, he will train with us today and is available for the game tomorrow.”
“He [Frimpong] seems to be OK – trained with us yesterday fully and will train with us [today] again. But he was one of the players I referred to about the Brighton game, I think in the second half you could see that he still has a step to make in terms of [playing] every three days. And then coming off for the national team. Another interesting and difficult choice to make, how many minutes in which game.”
The most pleasing update this week has been Isak’s return, and speaking on the Swedish striker’s recovery, the Liverpool boss said, “It will definitely be too fast to expect him in the starting lineup. He trained with us yesterday for the first time and today for the second time after exactly 101 days, I know this because it was told to me.”
“So, it will take a bit of time to give him a lot of minutes. We will make sure we do the right thing in terms of building him up in minutes, but it’s a very good thing to have him on the training ground again. It would be even a better thing to have him available for games, that’s for sure. You can even be on the bench if you haven’t trained. But the question is: is he ready to play some minutes? That’s another question.”
“It’s a difficult one, because we don’t play a normal game. What I mean is, it could go to extra-time, so that makes it even more complicated if you bring him in, if we think he can only play 10 minutes – if we already think this – and you bring him in 10 minutes before the end and then you go to extra-time… of course, you can take him off again if we have enough players available to bring another player in.”
Giorgi Mamardashvili will deputise for Alisson Becker between the sticks, with Liverpool lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation in front of him against Manchester City on Saturday. The backline will feature Jeremie Frimpong, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk, and Milos Kerkez.
As for the midfield unit, Ryan Gravenberch will line up alongside Dominik Szoboszlai in the double pivot, with Alexis Mac Allister reprising the no. 10 role. Finally, Hugo Ekitike will lead the line for the away side against Manchester City, with Mohamed Salah and Florian Wirtz completing the numbers in the offensive unit. So, Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak will be among the backup options on the bench for the visitors.
Predicted Liverpool XI: Mamardashvilli; Frimpong, Konate, van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai; Salah, Mac Allister, Wirtz; Ekitike
