The compressed 2020-21 campaign continues for Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool squad on Tuesday night, when they host Danish side FC Midtjylland in the Champions League.
Liverpool defeated Ajax 1-0 in the opening fixture of the group, with Midtjylland falling 4-0 to Atalanta. Without further ado, let’s preview. For our starting lineup prediction go here.
Injury News
Liverpool will be without Thiago, Naby Keita and Joel Matip for the match on Tuesday. Thiago and Matip both suffered injuries in the Merseyside Derby on Oct. 17.
In Monday afternoon’s pre-match press conference, Jurgen Klopp didn’t seem overly concerned. He described both injuries as “day-by-day. It may be too soon for Tuesday, both could feature on the weekend against West Ham.
Keita is a little bit more of a mystery. There were unconfirmed grumblings of a positive coronavirus test during the international break, but he has been training. Liverpool haven’t announced any other injury issue, but the midfielder will not be available.
There is no other new injury concerns coming off Saturday’s victory against Sheffield United. Alisson returned much faster than expected, and didn’t seem worse for the wear. Kostas Tsimikas has been out since picking up an injury in the League Cup against Lincoln. He is back at training, and is expected to be available.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Virgil Van Dijk are long-term injuries.
New Training Ground
Liverpool are expected to move into their new training ground in Kirkby during the next international break.
For years, Liverpool have had the first team train at Melwood, with the academy playing at Kirkby. But, Jurgen Klopp wanted to combine the resources.
The new £50 million venue will be nearly five times the size of Melwood, with seven grass pitches and three hybrid pitches.
The original plan was to have construction finished during the summer, but the coronavirus pandemic slowed construction.
Betting Odds
Liverpool are gigantic 13/100 favorites to win on Tuesday. FC Midtjylland are 17/1 underdogs with just over 8/1 odds on a draw.