Predicted Liverpool Lineup vs Rubin Kazan
After winning their match against Chelsea in the premier league, Liverpool will now travel to Russia to face Rubin Kazan at the Kazan Arena. Three out of six group stages are over and this week will mark the beginning of the second set of group stage matches. Liverpool have not won a game so far in the group stages. All of their matches ended in frustration draws. On Thursday Liverpool will be looking to find their first European win this season.
Here is our predicted Liverpool lineup to face Rubin Kazan:
The Goalkeeper – Simon Mignolet
Current Liverpool No.2 Adam Bogdan is not a competition for Mignolet and Bogdan won’t be replacing Mignolet unless the Belgian get injured or sick. Bogdan will only get playing time in capital one and FA cup matches.
The Defenders – Nathaniel Clyne, Martin Skrtel, Mamadou Sakho, Alberto Moreno
Liverpool manager, Klopp, will want this back four to establish themselves. Fixtures like this in a foreign country like Russia will help them improve their game and chemistry. Nathaniel Clyne is a player who needs to be given rest, but that’s highly unlikely because Klopp won’t be taking any risks in a European fixture. There is little chance that Dejan Lovren could start instead of Skrtel or Sakho. In that case, probably Skrtel will be making way for him. Sakho cannot be benched considering his current form. Alberto Moreno is expected to start in his preferred Left Back position.
The Midfielders – Lucas Leiva, Joe Allen, Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana, Roberto Firmino
Emre Can and James Milner were not at their best in Liverpool’s match against Chelsea. Milner’s performances after his arrival at Liverpool have been unconvincing. We expect the young German and the experienced English man to be benched. We expect Lucas and Allen to start ahead of them as the central midfielders. Lucas has been in great form for Liverpool after Klopp’s arrival and he will be looking to keep that momentum going. While, Allen said in one of his interviews that he will prove Klopp his worth, we expect Allen to get his chance on Thursday against Rubin Kazan. Klopp will probably play Coutinho, Firmino and Lallana as the attacking midfielders. Coutinho, who was in bad form gained confidence when he scored two beautiful goals against Chelsea. Now, Klopp will want him to build on that win. Lallana has been in good form and he is Liverpool’s top scorer in the Europa League, so we expect him to start against Kazan. Firmino is starting to find his feet at Liverpool and his last couple of performances were very encouraging. Now he will need to improve his chemistry with the team and for that he will need to start more games with Coutinho and Lallana (Liverpool’s other major attacking midfielders).
Striker – Christian Benteke
Even after being hit by injuries the Belgian has managed to keep his form up at Liverpool. He has scored four goals out of eight appearances for Liverpool. He has scored consecutively in Liverpool’s last two premier league matches. He is fully fit now after returning from injury and he has not started a game for Liverpool in the Europa League. If he can score one or two goals against Kazan it will boost his confidence further more.
