Liverpool v West Ham kicks off at 04.30am AEDT on Sunday morning (5.30pm local) and will be streamed live online.
Advertisement
One thing is for sure, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp is using this year’s FA Cup to either blood in some of Liverpool’s rising young stars or see which of them will be given the door come the end of the season.
Liverpool showed their nerve from the spot though, with much-maligned goalkeeper Simon Mignolet making a couple of saves to see his team through.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes their next three matches could have a significant bearing on whether they stand a chance of finishing in the top four.
That falls squarely in the middle of two Premier League fixtures for the Reds, at home to Sunderland on February 6 and away to Leicester City eight days later.
However, Klopp said the chance to play some of Liverpool’s youngsters was a plus point of the extra games.
The Hammers have beaten the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal on their own turf, but can be equally risky on the road.
The Merseyside club will be keen to progress in the FA Cup and the manager is likely to repose faith in the first-team players, who have been on the fringe thus far.
“I am not expecting numerous guys who played 120 minutes on Tuesday to play”, he adds, “but we are preparing to face their best side”. Jurgen Klopp will be wary about his team being exhausted following a gruelling run of fixtures, and has already indicated that there will be a raft of changes to the team.
The Liverpool legend said on LFC TV after the West Ham game: “I think he has got a little bit of a case in that he realises he’s not Klopp’s kind of player”.
Looking back on the game, its clear that the West Ham goalkeeper was made to look incredible simply because every one of Liverpool’s shots was struck directly at him.
“The last FA Cup game against Exeter was great”.
If Leicester are not talking about winning the league now surely that makes you lackadaisical and makes you think you’ve got a free swing at it. It’s not a free swing.
Advertisement
One player set to retain his place is central defender Dejan Lovren, who took the opportunity to build up his match fitness after recovering from a recent hamstring injury. It’s hard to envisage going forward with a player like that. I’ve played five times for the first team and I’ve scored my first goal at Anfield which is special. I’m fine with the squad, it was never a problem – it’s all about injuries and the number of games.
