Liverpool face Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday – a team that has beaten the Reds three times already this season
Liverpool stars Florian Wirtz, Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah and Jeremie Frimpong (L-R)(Image: Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Liverpool’s grip on fifth place in the Premier League table tightened on Sunday afternoon when Virgil van Dijk nodded home the latest of late Merseyside Derby winners at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Arne Slot’s side now enjoys a seven-point cushion on sixth-placed Chelsea with five games left to play, including an Anfield face-off against the west Londoners themselves. In short, the Reds’ fate is in their own hands, but they still have a job to complete to conclude what has been a season to forget.
Up next is a Crystal Palace side that knows exactly how to beat Liverpool, because they have done it on three separate occasions already this season in three different competitions. No one likes a bogey team, so Slot will need to pick a side that has the appetite to finally put one over the annoying Eagles.
I’ve taken a look at what the Dutch coach can do to mix things up if he wants another three points at Anfield.
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Woodman is a keeper
Perhaps the most surprising moment in Sunday’s Merseyside derby was the Liverpool debut of third-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman. With Alisson injured, a second-half collision with Beto during the Everton striker’s equaliser put Giorgi Mamardashvilli out of action and handed Woodman his big chance.
The former Newcastle United glovesman didn’t have a lot to do but still kept a clean sheet and with the word on the street being that Liverpool’s Georgian international ‘keeper might need a couple of weeks to recover from an open wound, Woodman is now in line for his Anfield first team debut.
What an opportunity. Let’s hope he grasps it with two hands. Literally.
Get the right-back right back in there
Slot opted to go with Curtis Jones at right-back instead of summer signing Jeremie Frimpong, but that was surely just a fixture-specific move? Liverpool can’t afford to be on the back foot at home to Palace, so Frimpong is back in at right-back. Alexander Isak is well short on fitness but given he is in the side to score goals, the likes of Frimpong can deliver the balls from the right that he needs to get his Liverpool career back on track after a couple of false starts.
Wirtz needs to get the message
This is likely to divide opinion, but I would take Florian Wirtz out of the starting line-up next weekend. It was no surprise when he got hooked against Everton, albeit with only six minutes of regulation time remaining (plus another 11!).
The German’s place should not be automatic and I’m not totally convinced that he’s up for that fight. I would move Jones into midfield and push Szoboszlai into the number 10 role that is usually occupied by Wirtz, who can get his chance in the second half. Cody Gakpo’s brilliant assist for Mohamed Salah at Hill Dickinson Stadium ensures that he is not the man who makes way in this reshuffle.