Liverpool predicted line-up vs. Nottingham Forest: one key change made as £45m forward returns

Liverpool will have the chance to cement their top four status when Nottingham Forest make the trip across the country to Anfield on Sunday afternoon – and there have been some positive injury updates from Jürgen Klopp ahead of the Premier League clash.

The Red will still need to come through Thursday night’s Europa League tie against Toulouse but all going well should be able to call upon Cody Gakpo once more, with the Dutchman seemingly back to full fitness having been out of action since September. A victory against Forest would make it two league wins on the bounce for Liverpool after they came out on top in last weekend’s Merseyside Derby, and we’ve got all the latest team news and injury updates ahead of the game.

Goalkeeper & Defence

Klopp gave us an update on the condition of Andrew Robertson after the Scotland left-back suffered a serious shoulder injury while on international duty earlier this month. Robertson underwent surgery on Wednesday morning, with Klopp telling the media that the procedure “went well… we don’t know how long it will take or whatever, but the first step is done, that’s good.”

He will likely be out until the new year, so Greek full-back Kostas Tsimikas will most likely continue to deputise this weekend after making his first league start of the season against Everton. Liverpool otherwise have a clean bill of health across their back line at the time of writing.

Midfield

There are, unfortunately, plenty of problems in midfield. Curtis Jones is serving the last of a three-match suspension for his straight red card against Tottenham Hotspur three weeks ago, so he will certainly miss out, with either Harvey Elliott or Ryan Gravenberch likely to deputise. The summer signing from Bayern Munich played 62 minutes of the game against Everton last weekend as he builds up his fitness, but has yet to play a full game for his new club.

Three players remain on the treatment table for the Reds – youngster Ben Doak is out for the foreseeable future with a muscle injury, while Klopp said that both Thiago Alcântara and Stefan Bajčetić have not yet returned to first-team training after both missing several months through injury.

Forwards

Cody Gakpo, who picked up a knock at the very end of September which has kept him out of action since, should be back in the squad to play Tolouse on Thursday and is likely to play at least some part in the game against Forest as well, with Klopp telling the press that he has been in full training since Sunday.

There are no fresh injury problems elsewhere in the squad, so Klopp should have a full slare of forwards to choose from, and will likely look to rotate to some degree, meaning anyone missing out on Thursday has a very good chance of getting gametime when Premier League football returns at the weekend.

Full predicted line-up vs. Nottingham Forest

Alisson; Tsimikas, Van Dijk, Konaté, Alexander-Arnold; Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Díaz, Salah, Núñez.