Why Arne Slot has not held a pre-Southampton press conference
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Image Credits: Imago ImagesLiverpool kick off their Carabao Cup campaign at Anfield tomorrow night, welcoming Championship side Southampton in a third-round tie.
Kick-off is at 8pm BST, with the Reds set to rotate a number of senior starters fresh from Saturday’s Merseyside derby win.
Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah have all been ruled out, opening the door for promising youngsters and fringe players to stake their claim.
Southampton arrive on the back of a 3-1 defeat at Hull, having won just once in six league outings under new boss Will Still?
With no extra time in this round, any draw after 90 minutes will go straight to penalties.
Rhys Williams, Tommy Pilling, Kaide Gordon, Jayden Danns, and Kieran Morrison trained with the first team on Sunday ahead of the clash.
It’s the same Rhys Williams who played a part in Liverpool’s injury-ridden 2020/21 season.
Williams has not played for the club since 2023, and could yet make the matchday squad ahead of Tuesday.
It will also be a great opportunity to give minutes to some of the senior players like Joe Gomez, Wataru Endo, and Federico Chiesa.
However, the normal tradition of a pre-game press conference has been scrapped ahead of the game.
That’s because Arne Slot and the rest of the Liverpool delegation are attending the Ballon d’Or ceremony this evening at the Théâtre du Châtelet.
James Pearce has reported on X:
“No Slot press conference today with a Liverpool FC contingent en route to the Ballon d’Or ceremony.”
“Predicted line up for tomorrow: Mamardashvili, Frimpong, Gomez, Leoni, Robertson, Endo, Jones, Nyoni, Chiesa, Isak, Ngumoha.”
The ceremony begins at 8:00 PM CET (7:00 PM BST, 2:00 PM EDT), with Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit serving as host alongside presenter Kate Scott.
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