Reds aim to maintain perfect start as Foxes come to town

After a shaky Salzburg performance in midweek, Brendan’s buoyant Leicester visit Anfield in hope to continue their top four form and emulate their predecessors.

And after the aforementioned Salzburg win, by four goals to three, Liverpool will be hoping to return to their normally defensively sound selves this Saturday.

In that game, which saw the Reds storm into a 3-0 lead through Sadio Mane, Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah, Liverpool displayed considerable attacking flair until Hee-chan Hwang, Takumi Minamino and Erling Haaland levelled for the Austrian outfit with half an hour to play. Salah slotted home after a Roberto Firmino knock on to get Liverpool the three points, but the defensive fragility and mishaps on Wednesday prove that there is scope for Leicester to really cause issues for the Reds.

With an attacking quadrant of Harvey Barnes, Ayoze Perez, James Maddison and Jamie Vardy, the Foxes can prove a threat to any side in either a traditional Rodgers possession based game or on the counter attack, something which they will look to exploit on the weekend.

Jamie Vardy has a habit of scoring against Liverpool too, netting seven in nine matches against Klopp’s men. The East-Midlands outfit have won four out of their last five, including a victory over struggling Spurs and a 5-0 thrashing of a poor Newcastle side.

Team news

Liverpool will be without Cameroon international Joel Matip through a knock, and although the return of Alisson Becker seems imminent, he is not likely to feature at all at Anfield.

Xherdan Shaqiri will also be out with a calf strain, and Nathaniel Clyne is the only outstanding long-term injury to report.

James Maddison did look to have picked up a foot injury, but Brendan Rodgers confirmed on Thursday that he would be available for the Foxes to utilise. Apart from that, only Matty James’ long term spell out prevents Leicester from having a clean bill of health.

Klopp remains cautious on Alisson return

“With Alisson, it is still ‘maybe, maybe not’. Yesterday he trained with the team for the first time. He looked really good, but we will see.”

“We have to talk to different people before I make a decision about that. It’s different for goalkeepers, yes. But the good thing is that Adrian did well so we don’t feel pressure.”

“We don’t have to rush it. Alisson has been training for 10 days, now he is in team training. We will have to see”.

Rodgers positive about returning to Anfield and Leicester’s chances

“I always take the positives and when I analyse my time there, the club was in… we had to trim the budget, they hadn’t been in Champions League for five seasons, then we had to put in place a playing style that moved us up the table. First couple of seasons went well, went close to the title. The fourth season didn’t last so long. Great learning experience as a coach. There were so many highs as a young manager and I’ll always be grateful for that.”

“We just want to continue with our performance level. Liverpool are on an incredible run. Great opponent to test and challenge the quality of their team. Brought a positive mindset into our games, no matter who the opponent is. Nobody expects us to get anything from the game, with Liverpool in the form that they’re in.”

Head-to-head

LEICESTER WINS – 39

DRAWS – 25

LIVERPOOL WINS – 48