How Liverpool could line up against Leicester City

Liverpool are expected to make sweeping changes to their starting XI for Wednesday's EFL Cup quarter-final against Leicester City at Anfield.

The Premier League and EFL have decided to press ahead with the fixture schedule as planned over the festive period, despite Jurgen Klopp's claim that his squad is stretched too thin to play four times in 10 days at the end of the year.

As of yet, Liverpool have not reached the threshold to have a game postponed, meaning that Wednesday's match could be Klopp's best chance to rest many of his big-name players.

The likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Trent Alexander-Arnold are all expected to be given the night off, although Klopp's ability to rotate could be limited by existing absentees.

Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Curtis Jones and Thiago Alcantara all remain sidelined for the hosts having tested positive for coronavirus, while Jordan Henderson is unlikely to be risked unless he has fully recovered from the non-COVID illness which ruled him out against Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend.

With Harvey Elliott still injured too, that leaves Liverpool depleted in the middle of the park, meaning that Tyler Morton and either James Milner or Naby Keita could start two games in the space of four days.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain should come back into the team having been left out at the weekend, while there should also be places for other fringe players such as Neco Williams, Joe Gomez, Caoimhin Kelleher and Takumi Minamino.

The latter has scored five goals in his four League Cup games and could come into the front three alongside 17-year-old Kaide Gordon and fit-again Roberto Firmino, who has not started a match for Liverpool since October.

Andrew Robertson is suspended following his red card against Spurs, meaning that Kostas Tsimikas is likely to come in at left-back, while Nat Phillips and Adrian are also sidelined.

Divock Origi would ordinarily be in line to feature in an EFL Cup game, but he continues to struggle with a knee injury and is still yet to return to training.

Given the number of absentees, the worsening coronavirus situation and the upcoming quickfire fixtures in the league, Klopp may have even considered a repeat of the last time Liverpool were in an EFL Cup quarter-final, when he fielded the Under-23s side with the senior team in Club World Cup action.

Liverpool possible starting lineup: Kelleher; Williams, Gomez, Konate, Tsimikas; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Morton, Milner; Gordon, Firmino, Minamino