Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong drop Liverpool team news hints as Arne Slot faces decision
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Liverpool full-backs Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong have dropped team news hints ahead of the Merseyside derby against Everton.
Both the defenders could be in line for their first taste of the rivalry against their foes, with Arne Slot's side looking to pick up maximum points from their opening five matches.
Kerkez was sacrificed during the first-half of last weekend's 1-0 win over Burnley after the Hungarian was shown a yellow card for simulation.
The left-back avoided further action shortly after when he was penalised for a foul on the halfway line, denying a counter-attack from the Clarets.
Andy Robertson deputised in his place for the 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid in their Champions League opener, but he was replaced in the latter stages by Kerkez.
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Frimpong has been steadily integrated back into the first-team after picking up a hamstring issue before the most recent international break.
Dominik Szoboszlai has deputised at right-back, with Conor Bradley also sidelined through injury, filtering in seamlessly despite being played out of position.
Frimpong was given the nod on Wednesday for the elite European curtain-raiser before the Northern Ireland international was provided fresh legs shortly after the hour mark.
Both Kerkez and the 24-year-old are in contention to feature for Liverpool, but Slot faces a decision across the pitch - with the current focus on the attacking options, as the former Feyenoord boss has been forced to mull over whether to start Alexander Isak or allow Hugo Ekitike to lead the line.
In the build-up to Saturday's early kick-off, the defenders posted a pre-match graphic preview to their respective Instagram stories.
Historically, this suggests that he'll be involved in some capacity but doesn't necessarily mean they will play from the outset.
Ryan Gravenberch also did the same, hinting he could start against the Blues.
"I consider, of course, because you consider many things and it depends always on how well they are doing, so if both of them are in the best form of their life you would even consider it more, playing them together," Slot said on his attacking line-up.
"But it’s also clear that we have a certain structure, which has mainly been 4-3-3 [and] playing with three midfielders, but the amount of times we have, at the end phase of the game, played with two nines, that has happened quite a lot as well.
"Hugo can indeed also play from the left differently from Cody [Gakpo] or Rio [Ngumoha] and that’s the good thing about our squad, we have multiple options.
"But first of all they all have to stay fit to have these options and if some of them are not fit then we might have to use them both in a 4-4-2.
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"That all depends on the form of them and how many players we have available.