After suffering a humiliating 2-0 defeat at the Turf Moor past weekend, the Merseyside club Liverpool will now be travelling to Pirelli Stadium, a venue which can hold a capacity of 6,912, to play their first fixture of the League cup and that will be against Burton Albion.
A sense of optimism is surely required for the Anfield spectators and a game against the team like Burton Albion can surely serve their cause this time around. Liverpool had one great start to their new Premier League career as they out-numbered the Emirates outfit by four goals to three, but failed to replicate the same result against a lowly Burnley side.
Furthermore, Burton Albion had never played in the Football League comprising the Championship and League One and Two. The side were in League One and earned promotion by finishing second.
Recent Form:
Burton Albion – last five results (all competitions)
Drew 2-2 vs. Blackburn Rovers
Won 3-1 vs. Sheffield Wednesday
Lost 2-1 Bristol City
Won 3-2 vs. Bury (A.E.T.)
Lost 4-3 vs. Nottingham Forest
Liverpool – last five results (all competitions)
Lost 2-0 vs. Burnley
Won 4-3 vs. Arsenal
Lost 4-0 vs. Mainz 05
Won 4-0 vs. Barcelona
Lost 2-1 vs. AS Roma
Burton Albion vs Liverpool Team News:
There are no fresh injury issues for Liverpool, although, the player like Loris Karius, Mamadou Sakho, Joe Gomez, Lucas Leiva and Sheyi Ojo are surely going to miss the game. Furthermore, the youngsters like Alexander-Arnold and Kevin Stewart will be looking forward to start the game, while the senior names like Joel Matip, Emre Can, and Divock Origi will also be looking forward to mark their return in the first team.
Besides that, Sadio Mane is unlikely to be featured as the manager will not be looking to risk his fitness as he is still recovering from this shoulder injury.
For the hosts, defender John Mousinho is likely to miss the fixture with a hamstring injury and the fellow defender John Brayford is cup-tied but Kyle McFadzean should be fit despite suffering a head injury, and Tom Flanagan (thigh) could return.
Predicted lineup:
Liverpool:
Manninger
Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Lovren, Moreno
Henderson, Can, Grujic
Lallana, Origi, Firmino
Match facts (BBC)-
- This will be the first meeting between these sides.
- Liverpool have lost none of their last 12 League Cup games against lower-ranked opponents (W8 D4), though one of those draws ended in a shootout loss to Northampton in September 2010.
- Burton have faced Premier League opposition in two of the previous three League Cup campaigns, beating QPR in 2014-15, but losing on penalties to Fulham in 2013-14.
- Liverpool have reached the semi-final in three of the last five League Cup campaigns, including reaching the final twice (winning in 2012 but losing on penalties to Man City last season).
What they say:
Jurgen Klopp:
“We’ve analysed Burton and, I have to say, the Championship—I really like this league,” he explained.
“Another good team with maybe not the best start but spectacular results like the 4-3 with Norwich, an unlucky defeat.
“A nice story, they went the last two, three years getting promoted each year, and that’s pretty good.
“Experienced manager, clear style of play, I would expect a 3-5-2 system like they’ve played in the last few games. So, of course we respect the opponent.”
Burton boss Nigel Clough – a former Liverpool player – said of the Liverpool tie and Friday’s league game against neighbours Derby:
“This is a brilliant week for the club, not a crucial week.
“Usually big games like this come later in the season and there’s a lot riding on them. That’s not the case.
“It’s 10 years since we played Manchester United in the FA Cup so these games don’t come around very often for us. Ask our supporters. Never in their wildest dreams did they believe they’d be playing teams like this, never mind who we now play in the league week in, week out.
“It’s been an incredible 10 years for the club. Seven years in the Football League and we are competing in the Championship. The chairman keeps saying we have to keep pinching ourselves and he’s right.”
Prediction:
This comparatively is an easy game for the Reds, hence, we expect them to win the fixture with great ease, but then, it is football and we can only expect surprises till the last whistle. The manager has said that he will be making some changes and therefore, it will be interesting to see how he lines his team up and also, can the squad comeback after that disastrous result last weekend?
4-0
