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Oliver Glasner by contrast cuts a more relaxed figure as he talks to Sky. “We always start in every single competition to win it … it is not to be arrogant, it makes no sense for me saying ‘OK we want to win three rounds and then lose in the quarter-final’ … playing here in an away game against the Premier League title-holders is maybe the most difficult game you can play … we will give it our best to qualify for the quarter-final and we will see.”
Arne Slot explains his team selection to Sky Sports by coming at the subject from a few different angles at the same time. “People who follow this club know we use this competition for younger players … we want to create a pathway for them … to play in front of 60,000 people … in front of our own fans … that’s one reason … the other is that we only have four or five injuries but if I have to play again the same players … there are multiple reasons why we have lost so many games … no excuses to lose so many but it hasn’t been helpful that almost every time we have only two days in between … and after we have had to play away … and then again an away game … so we keep playing the same players … like for example I tried with Alexander Isak, players who missed out on pre-season … it is a big risk of another injury … and we only have at this moment in time 15, 16 senior players available.”
It’s fair to say Liverpool have filed an experimental teamsheet, with the vast bulk of the regulars given the night off. Milos Kerkez, desperate to play himself into some form, is the only player to retain his starting spot after the 3-2 defeat at Brentford last weekend. Third-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman and 18-year-old Northern Ireland winger Kieran Morrison make their club debuts, while the starting XI also includes 17-year-old winger Rio Ngumoha and 18-year-old midfielder Trey Nyoni. Nobody on their bench is over 21; Kaide Gordon is the most experienced sub with nine senior appearances on his resumé.
Crystal Palace by contrast retain six players from the team sent out for the 1-0 defeat at Arsenal on Sunday. Marc Guéhi, Maxence Lacroix, Daniel Muñoz, Ismaïla Sarr, Yéremy Pino and Daichi Kamada all hold onto their shirts. Sarr has five goals against Liverpool in eight appearances for Palace and Watford, while one of the players stepping into the team tonight, Eddie Nketiah, scored the winner when the teams met at Selhurst last month.
The teams
Liverpool: Woodman, Ramsay, Gomez, Robertson, Kerkez, Endo, Nyoni, Mac Allister, Morrison, Ngumoha, Chiesa.
Subs: Pecsi, Gordon, Pilling, Kone-Doherty, Pinnington, Figueroa, Nallo, Lucky, Laffey.
Crystal Palace: Benitez, Canvot, Lacroix, Guehi, Munoz, Hughes, Kamada, Sosa, Sarr, Pino, Nketiah.
Subs: Henderson, Mitchell, Lerma, Uche, Mateta, Clyne, Esse, Devenny, Cardines.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire).
Preamble
Liverpool have historically found Crystal Palace difficult opponents. Not exactly always – they’re 36-16 up on wins, and beat Palace 7-0 on their own turf five years ago – but when the Eagles perform a hit on the Reds, they really hit, and hit hard. The 1990 FA Cup semi-final. Crystanbul. This season’s Charity Community Shield. The game at Selhurst last month that triggered this astonishing collapse of Arne Slot’s champion side, Liverpool’s first loss in a sequence of five in six.
Now let’s fold another couple of sequences into the mix. Of the last eight meetings between the clubs, Palace have won three (we’re counting the Community Shield as a win), Liverpool just two. What’s even more worrying for the Reds are the recent results at Anfield: Palace have won one and drawn two of the last three. The Eagles have a strong upper hand over tonight’s hosts at the moment.
Having said all that, Palace are in a bit of a rut of their own. They’ve lost three of their last four matches in all competitions, failing to win domestically since that aforementioned capitulation-triggering visit of Liverpool to Selhurst. So here are a couple of teams who could do with a bolt of season-reviving energy. That alone should give us a fair chance of some top-grade fun tonight, though any long-term significance may depend on what teams Slot and Oliver Glasner decide to put out; they’re unlikely to be Premier League first XIs. But we’ll find out about that soon enough. Kick-off is at 7.45pm GMT. It’s on!
