Liverpool vs Stoke – Match Preview
After their incredible European exploits in Midweek, Liverpool return to Premier League action this weekend as they look to solidify their hopes of a top four finish. Although that said with the way they are steamrolling through Europe at the moment their league placing could well be irrelevant.
Jurgen Klopp can of course not but all his eggs in a Champions League shaped basket and therefore he will have to make sure that both he and his players do not lose sight of the more immediate task which is in front of them.
That being the visit of a struggling Stoke side who are quickly running out of matches and in turn opportunities to stave off the very real threat of relegation. Paul Lambert’s men have not won any of their last 11 Premier League matches. A run that is currently the longest in the division.
If there is any glimmer of hope, it is the fact that Stoke have drawn their last two league outings. At the same time when it comes to this point of the season, earning a solitary point here and there is not enough.
Quite simply Stoke have to get wins on the board if they are to have any hope of staying in the top-flight for next season, and you get the feeling that they may well need to do something miraculous at Anfield on Saturday if this to be the case.
The only thing that may well work in their favour is the fact that Jurgen Klopp will use this game as something of an opportunity to rest and rotate his players. For example does he run the risk of starting the likes of Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino when a trip to Rome is just around the corner.
One player who certainly will not be featuring is that of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the England international was stretched off during his side’s 5-2 win over Eusebio Di Francesco Roma and now will subsequently miss the World Cup.
That will be a hammer blow for the former Arsenal man as he now misses out on a very possible trip to the Champions League final appearance in Kyiv, while also now no longer a part of Gareth Southgate’s Russia plans.
In their last league outing, Liverpool made many changes and eventually paid the price when West Brom managed to earn an unlikely draw at the Hawthorns after Salomon Rondon’s leveller meant the game finished at 2-2.
West Brom however are playing with a freedom with relegation all but a certainty, while Stoke are playing for their lives and perhaps cannot be treated with the same complacency as a week or so ago.
That said with the blistering form that Liverpool are in at present then it is very difficult to look past the Merseyside outfit picking up all three points on Saturday regardless of which starting eleven that Jurgen Klopp decides to go with. Liverpool have that additional quality while Stoke are struggling for goals, this should end up in a home clean sheet win.
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