By Jordan Carreno

Matchday 24 sees the Reds host Leicester City at Anfield. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:00 PM EST on Wednesday.

Liverpool v Leicester City — 1/30/2019 2000 GMT

It has been 10 days floating in the abyss of life without Liverpool football. While Jurgen and the lads went off to Dubai for some warm weather training, the rest of us were left to twiddle our thumbs in anticipation for the next chance to cheer on our football club. Though a midweek, mid-workday is less than ideal, and the match will be shown on the money grabbing NBC Gold platform, at least the Reds will finally be back in action. As always, all 3 LFC Tampa Bay locations will be opening, serving, and showing the match, so cook up your excuses to get out of work and head on down to join us. With all that being covered, let’s get into the talking points.

The Return of Darth Vardy

Leicester City have been somewhat of a bogie side in recent times for Liverpool. In the 9 meetings since the Foxes rejoined the Premier League, they’ve managed to beat Liverpool 3 times, draw once, and have scored in every match but one. Part of their success in giving Liverpool trouble, and scoring goals against the Reds, comes down to one man; Jamie Vardy.

Vardy was a noticeable absentee in the first match of the season between these two sides, where Liverpool came out 2–1 winners at the King Power Stadium. Many detractors of this Liverpool side and pundits have even pointed to his absence as part of the reason why Liverpool were able to escape with all 3 points. Given Vardy’s propensity to score against the Reds, they may have a point. In the 8 games in which Jamie Vardy has played against Liverpool in the Premier League, he has managed to score 7 times.

In fact, on Wednesday night Vardy will be looking to draw level with Thierry Henry in regards to total number of goals scored against Liverpool. Currently, Vardy sits only behind Henry (8) and Andrew Cole (11) on the list of players with the most goals against the Reds. Vardy has also managed to score in both of his last two appearances at Anfield, although both goals came in losing efforts.

Though Leicester City have given Liverpool plenty of problems since their return to the top division, they haven’t won at Anfield since 2000 and have only managed 1 point at Liverpool since then. The Foxes are also winless against Liverpool in their last 3 meetings in the league. This Liverpool side have done well to reshape narratives that have been hanging over the club in recent times and hopefully that continues on Wednesday with the lads finding a way to get 3 points while keeping Vardy off the score sheet.

Questions at the Back

It has been somewhat surprising how little we have had to worry about our defensive set-up this season given our woes at the back over the past few seasons. The signings of Virgil Van Dijk, Andy Robertson, and Alisson, combined with the maturation of players like Gomez and Trent, has meant we have a formidable back line for the first time since the golden days of the Rafael Benitez reign. However, with a growing number of injury concerns, players struggling to make it back to full fitness, and a sickness descending upon the players, there are some serious decisions to be made to ensure we maintain that defensive solidity.

The first concern for Klopp and his selection for Wednesday night will come in the form of Virgil Van Dijk who has picked up a sickness in his travels from Dubai back to Liverpool. This has made Van Dijk, a constant in the backline all season, a doubt for the upcoming match. With the marked improvement to Liverpool’s defensive play centering around the arrival of Van Dijk, there could be cause for concern if he is unable to play. Fortunately, both Lovren and Matip are back in training and would be able to fill in, but it goes without saying that all associated with Liverpool would prefer for Van Dijk to make the starting XI.

With there being selections issues at RB, might we see Camacho deputizing again?

The next issue to solve at the back will be deciding what the solution is for RB. With James Milner getting sent off against Crystal Palace, and Trent and Gomez still not back from injury, Klopp will have to turn to an unconventional option for the right side of the backline. The first choice for many Liverpool supporters would be Fabinho with him having featured as a RB for the Brazilian national team numerous times. However, with Fabinho’s growing influence in the midfield, Klopp might not want to play the Brazilian out of position again.

The next most obvious choices are Hoever and Camacho. Hoever looked good against Wolves and has been touted as being the next RB option to come out of the youth system. Camacho played RB in that same Wolves match and made a cameo at the end of the Palace game, making a tackle against Zaha that Klopp has made sure to draw attention to. If recent press conferences are any indication of Klopp’s leaning, then it may be the young Portuguese winger that gets the nod at RB.

Hopefully, at the very least, Van Dijk is able to shake off the illness and be fit enough to play on Wednesday. With Leicester focusing much of their attacks down the left, whoever plays at RB will undoubtedly be targeted and would benefit from having Virgil’s presence and direction on the pitch. Regardless, Jurgen can take solace in knowing he at least has the options available to him to field a team good enough to get the job done.

Making the Break Count

Jurgen will have used the 10 day break as a chance to really prepare his side for the rest of the season

When Liverpool were knocked out of the League Cup, the spin put on it was that it would mean playing less games and improve our chances at the Premier League Title. Following that, when Liverpool got knocked out of the FA Cup the same point was made and it opened an opportunity for a break for the squad from game action. Liverpool used this opportunity to travel to Dubai for warm weather training and to allow a host of first teamers to get off the treatment table and onto the training pitch. Now, Liverpool must ensure that this break will be to the benefit of their title push and not a hindrance.

If Liverpool slip up coming out of this miniature break, there will be plenty of dust kicked up about the lack of playing time causing a loss of form. There will be narratives spun that getting knocked out of both domestic cups was, in reality, a blow to the psychi of this Liverpool squad. Klopp will be questioned by the pundits, again, for disrespecting the competitions.

So, in order to quell any outside noise and drive home the benefits of the warm weather training trip to Dubai, Liverpool need to make sure they come flying out the gates against Leicester. Picking up the 3 points and continuing the title march that started way back in August will go a long way in controlling the conversation around the side and make sure the pressure remains on City’s plate. In the long journey that is a Premier League season, any and all advantages count. Liverpool need to make sure they make this small advantage work to their benefit.

Prediction

We are staying in the domestic table where, once again, David and I managed to pick up 1 point for predicting a Liverpool win. Props to anyone out there who could have foreseen the 4–3 we were handed. As things currently stand, David leads the table with 30 points to my 29.

This has the potential to be another flashback to Liverpool of last season with the chance of VVD missing out, having no tried or tested RB options available, and with Jamie Vardy likely to line up for the Foxes. While we’ve grown used to resolute defensive performances resulting in clean sheets, this one might be a bit of a shootout. However, Leicester City have been on a poor run of form, having lost 4 of their last 5 matches since beating City on Boxing Day, and are staring down the barrel of a tough run of games.

Even with our defensive issues, Leicester will probably set up looking to counter down our left which should mean plenty of possession for the Reds. I suspect we line-up in the 4–2–3–1 with Camacho at RB and VVD forcing himself into the line-up. I also think we see Henderson and Fabinho as the midfield duo with Shaq coming in for Keita in the front 4. There will be goals for both sides as Vardy continues to be a thorn in Liverpool’s side but we manage to get plenty more than the visitors. 3–1.

David’s Prediction: I think he goes with a holding pair of Gini and Henderson in that 4–2–3–1 formation and deputizes Fabinho at right back for the day. That causes two headaches for Leicester in that they can’t anything going down their left flank and with Fabinho not pressing too high, any bit of leash Andy Robertson may normally have on him is completely taken off. And the man who never tires, the working class hero, has not had a match in 11 days. To say he’ll be ready to run and wreak havoc is like saying whales are ready to swim for their food. I think he climbs the Premier League assist chart, notching a pair on the day to get him to seven on the season, tied with Mo Salah and the 100 million euro Paul Pogba. Leicester do give an ill van Dijk and Matip a few fits and manage to nick a goal, but it simply isn’t enough. The Reds walk on to a second 2–1 victory over the Foxes this season.