Arne Slot should have 27 players available for Liverpool’s first official friendly of pre-season, with his strongest possible XI likely to start vs. Real Betis.
The Reds are still limited on their options as they embark on their United States tour, with 10 players yet to rejoin training and two others unavailable.
Diogo Jota only reported to the team hotel in Pittsburgh on Thursday and will therefore not be involved against Real Betis, while Andy Robertson is ruled out due to a “small injury.”
Ibrahima Konate and Ryan Gravenberch will join later in the tour, but Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Alexis Mac Allister, Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz will not return until Liverpool are back on Merseyside.
Even without those key names, Slot can field a strong side at the Acrisure Stadium – and based on the behind-closed-doors friendly against Preston, he is likely to do so from the start.
That means Vitezslav Jaros should line up between the sticks, with a back four of Conor Bradley, Jarell Quansah, Sepp van den Berg and Kostas Tsimikas.
Caoimhin Kelleher has missed a number of sessions so far in pre-season, with it unclear if the Irishman is fully fit.
Now back up to speed after returning later than his team-mates, Dominik Szoboszlai could join Wataru Endo and Curtis Jones in midfield.
Mohamed Salah will start on the right, with training footage suggesting Harvey Elliott could line up on the left with Fabio Carvalho up front.
Carvalho’s role as a No. 9 comes in the absence of all of Slot’s natural centre-forward options, with Jota undergoing preliminary fitness tests in the US.
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Slot made wholesale changes during the 1-0 defeat to Preston, and is likely to do so again this time around – with it possible that he names two separate XIs.
Expect to see the likes of Stefan Bajcetic, Tyler Morton, Luke Chambers, Ben Doak, Nat Phillips, Lewis Koumas and Kaide Gordon heavily involved even if they don’t start.
Possible Liverpool XI vs. Real Betis: Jaros; Bradley, Quansah, Van den Berg, Tsimikas; Endo, Jones, Szoboszlai; Salah, Elliott, Carvalho
