Liverpool need just a point to qualify for the Champions League round of 16 when they welcome Ligue 1’s Lille to Anfield on Tuesday night.
The Reds have been perfect in the competition thus far, although they were slightly fortunate to beat Girona on matchday six last month. Before that, Liverpool beat the likes of AC Milan, Bayer Leverkusen, and Real Madrid to assert a dominant position at the top of the league phase table.
Arne Slot’s side enter this bout having struck late at Brentford on Saturday and extending their lead at the top of the Premier League table to six points after Arsenal were pegged back by Aston Villa.
They will be put to the test by a Lille team that are unbeaten in 21 games across all competitions. Bruno Genesio’s side are up to third in France after coming from behind to beat Nice on Friday night, and they currently occupy the final top-eight spot in the European table too
After losing at Sporting CP on matchday one, Lille won four of their next five – including against Real Madrid – to leave themselves in a strong position. A place in the last 16 is far from guaranteed, but their continental campaign will surely extend beyond the end of January.
Liverpool are healthy heading into Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Lille, with Joe Gomez the only confirmed absentee. The centre-back is expected to be out until February with a hamstring injury.
Diogo Jota, whose goal off the bench helped the Reds earn a point at Nottingham Forest, missed Saturday’s win over Brentford with a knock and is unlikely to recover in time for the Lille’s visit.
There’s bound to be some rotation from Slot, who hasn’t tinkered too much with his team up to this point. Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo, Jarell Quansah, Kostas Tsimikas, Federico Chiesa and Harvey Elliott could all come into the team.
Liverpool predicted lineup vs Lille (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Bradley, Quansah, Van Dijk, Robertson; Endo, Jones; Salah, Elliott, Chiesa; Nunez.
Lille have a few more injury concerns than their hosts, and they’re crucially without maverick winger Edon Zhegrova due to a muscle issue. Leading scorer Jonathan David will lead the line.
Ethan Mbappe and Nabil Bentaleb are unavailable in midfield, while Tiago Santos has been lost for the season with a knee injury.
Samuel Umtiti has barely featured since joining the club and remains out of action.
