Days after upsetting Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge (with Jordan Henderson scoring one of THE goals of the season), Liverpool will hand summer signing Loris Karius his competitive debut when they take on Derby County in the League Cup tonight.
Karius, a £4.7m summer signing from Mainz, featured in most of Liverpool’s pre-season games, with Simon Mignolet given a break following Euro 2016, but broke his hand against Chelsea and has been out of action since. Tonight marks an opportunity for the young German stopper to present his case to Jurgen Klopp, with the Reds gaffer claiming that there is no No.1 at Anfield- a sign that Mignolet hasn’t made the spot his own yet
Klopp also refused to answer whether he would revert back to Mignolet for the weekend clash against Hull, saying that it would be unfair to both the Belgian and Karius if he said a yes or no.
It is Liverpool’s first visit to Pride Park (now the IPro stadium) in nearly a decade- the last time they played the Rams was back in 2007, when Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard scored to give them a 2-1 win.
The Reds could also hand talented teenager Ovi Ejaria his debut against the Rams. The 18 year old was an unused substitute against Chelsea and is expected to get some game time against Nigel Pearson’s side.
Derby County have been in woeful form so far in the Championship, picking up just six points from a potential 24. They broke a run of three straight league defeats with a 1-1 draw at Bristol City over the weekend, but have just one solitary win (away at fellow strugglers Preston) to show for their efforts after eight games.
Derby County form- last six games
Bristol City 1-1 Derby County
Derby County 0-1 Ipswich Town
Derby County 0-2 Newcastle United
Burton Albion 1-0 Derby
Derby County 1-1 Carlisle (League Cup, Derby won on penalties)
Derby County 0-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool have had a fairly good start to the season with wins over Arsenal, last season’s champions Leicester and Antonio Conte’s Chelsea- with a 2-0 away loss to Burnley the only blip.
It therefore comes as no surprise that the Reds are 4/11 favourites to see off the Rams, and in an offer for sports fans, Bet365 are offering a 100% matched deposit (subject to fulfillment of certain conditions)
Liverpool form- last six games
Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool
Liverpool 4-1 Leicester
Tottenham 1-1 Liverpool
Burton 0-5 Liverpool
Burnley 2-0 Liverpool
Arsenal 3-4 Liverpool
The common opposition LFC and DCFC have played this season are Burton Albion- the Reds thrashed them 5-0 while Derby went down 1-0.
Other midweek league fixtures to watch out for:
The pick is obviously Leicester v Chelsea, but Northampton v Man Utd is another important one, especially given Jose Mourinho’ current state. Should the Red Devils lose, the repercussions from this one might be more than their MK Dons one from last season.
Nottingham Forest v Arsenal
Leicester v Chelsea
Northampton Town v Man Utd
Swansea v Man City
Tottenham v Gillingham