Liverpool XI vs Leicester: Confirmed team news, predicted lineup and injury latest for Premier League game | OneFootball

Reds boss Arne Slot still missing two defenders for Boxing Day clash at Anfield

Liverpool will remain without Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley for their Premier League clash with Leicester on Boxing Day.

Bradley filled in admirably for Trent Alexander-Arnold that night against the holders on Merseyside, but suffered a hamstring injury that was initially expected to keep him out for a period of many weeks.

Konate also started against Madrid and completed the full 90 minutes, though was seen limping after the full-time whistle having sustained a knee issue following a challenge from Real substitute Endrick.

Like Bradley, the layoff for the French international centre-back was originally anticipated to be a number of weeks.

Asked for a new update on the pair before Sunday’s dramatic 6-3 win over Tottenham, Liverpool boss Arne Slot said: “These are the two that are still ‘in the red’, so they don’t train with us at the moment. They are on their way back but they don’t train with the team yet.”

Quizzed on when they could return to action, he added: “That is, what I’ve said before, quite difficult. We thought, I thought, that [Diogo] Jota would have been back a bit earlier already and sometimes the end stage of rehab takes a bit longer.

“Sometimes they join [training] and then they are like, ‘I’m not completely ready to start yet.’ So, let’s wait and see but we have very good rehab personnel over here and they’ve done some good work already with Alisson [Becker] and a few others.

“The main thing is that if they come back, they are ready to come back and we must not focus on one, two or three days. It’s more important for the long term that they stay fit afterwards.

“Until now they have done really well and hopefully with Conor and Ibou the same thing happens.”

Alexander-Arnold has long since recovered from his own hamstring tweak to regain the starting spot at right-back for Liverpool, while Joe Gomez continues to fill in for Konate at centre-back alongside captain Virgil van Dijk.

The Reds are not believed to have suffered any fresh injury concerns in the nine-goal thriller at Spurs, so we can expect a similar team on Boxing Day at Anfield to take on a struggling Leicester side under Ruud van Nistelrooy who currently sit only two points above the relegation zone in 17th position having won just three of 17 games in the top-flight so far this term, being thumped by Newcastle and then turned over at home by relegation rivals Wolves to truly end the new manager’s brief honeymoon period.

League leaders Liverpool could go seven points clear at the summit if they beat Leicester in the evening kick-off and Chelsea slip up at home to Fulham in a west London derby at Stamford Bridge earlier in the day, but Slot may be tempted to make a few changes to keep his players fresh during what on paper looks like their most straightforward match of a typically busy festive fixture list, which also includes a trip to West Ham and home clash with Manchester United in the New Year ahead of a Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg tie against Tottenham.

Curtis Jones, Diogo Jota, Harvey Elliott and Darwin Nunez all came off the bench against Tottenham and will be pushing to start against either Leicester or West Ham, while summer signing Federico Chiesa will also hope to play his first Premier League minutes since September after coming off the bench in the Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Southampton but then not making the squad at Tottenham.

Wataru Endo is another player who will be looking for a chance to impress, while Jarell Quansah and Kostas Tsimikas are options if Slot wants to rotate in defence.

Predicted Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Jones, Jota; Nunez

Time and date: 8pm GMT on Thursday December 26, 2024

Referee: Darren Bond