After a dominant win against Leicester City on Sunday in the Premier League, Liverpool will host Italian club Atalanta in the Champions League on Wednesday, and will hope to seal a place in the round of 16.
The Reds have been in supreme form in the Champions League this season, winning all three of their opening games and are yet to even concede a goal in the competition.
Atalanta, meanwhile, have won one, drawn one and lost one so far in the Champions League, and are third in the group. The Reds thrashed Atalanta 5-0 in the reverse fixture and are the clear favourites going into this game, despite being without several key first-team players.
Liverpool vs Atalanta – Team News and Predicted Lineups
Liverpool have several players out due to injury. Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Joe Gomez will all miss the game, while Naby Keita picked up a muscle injury in the game against Leicester City and is set for a spell on the sidelines again.
Midfielders Thiago and Jordan Henderson are not expected to be risked, while Xherdan Shaqiri will be touch and go after picking up a muscle problem. Defender Rhys Williams could be available for Wednesday night’s game. Mohamed Salah could also be involved in this game after his COVID-19 test was negative.
Jurgen Klopp could rest a few of his key players for this game as the Reds have almost qualified for the knockout stages. Salah could come into the team, while Fabinho could be rested to make way for youngster Rhys Williams, who played in the reverse fixture in Italy.
Predicted Liverpool Lineup: Alisson; Neco Williams, Rhys Williams, Joel Matip, Andrew Robertson; James Milner, Georginio Wijnaldum, Curtis Jones; Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Sadio Mane
Atalanta will likely miss out on three players with Ruslan Malinovskyi, Mattia Caldara, and Fabio Depaoli ruled out for the game against Liverpool. The Italian side had several players return for their Serie A fixture over the weekend, which will be a big boost for Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini.
Rhys Williams could start against Atalanta (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Gasperini could bring back Luis Muriel into the Atalanta lineup in place of Josip Ilicic for the game against Liverpool, while Hans Hateboer could come in for Fabio Depaoli.
Predicted Atalanta Lineup: Pierluigi Gollini; Rafael Toloi, Cristian Romero, Jose Luis Palomino; Hans Hateboer, Robin Gosens; Matteo Pessina, Marten de Roon, Alejandro Gomez; Luis Muriel, Duvan Zapata
Liverpool vs Atalanta – Key Players
Diogo Jota has been in sensational form for the Reds and has already scored eight goals in all competitions. He scored a hat-trick in the reverse fixture and will be one of Liverpool’s key players.
Atalanta captain Alejandro Gomez will be the Italian side’s key player, as he will be expected to hold on to the ball and link the midfield and attack. His quick dribbling could pose a threat to Liverpool on the counter.
Liverpool vs Atalanta – Where to watch
UK: Fans in UK can watch the Liverpool vs Atalanta game on Wednesday, 8:00 PM on BT Sport 2 and BT Sport Ultimate
India: Fans in India can watch the Liverpool vs Atalanta game on Thursday, 1:30 AM on Sony Ten 1 SD and HD as well as the Sony Liv app.