Liverpool lineup vs. Aston Villa: Predicted XI for Premier League clash

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot should have an identical squad available to him for Saturday's Premier League showdown with Aston Villa at Anfield.

The Reds were without all of Harvey Elliott (foot), Federico Chiesa (fitness), Alisson Becker (thigh) and Diogo Jota (abdominal) for Tuesday's 4-0 Champions League crushing of Bayer Leverkusen, and none of them will be back before the international break either.

Nevertheless, Slot still boasts numerous options for change and should tinker with his XI slightly on Saturday, but Caoimhin Kelleher, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk are all defensive shoo-ins.

Kostas Tsimikas has unexpectedly started to enjoy more game time at Andy Robertson's expense recently, but the latter should displace the Greece international in the first XI this time around as Slot rotates his resources.

Dominik Szoboszlai should also benefit from any chopping and changing to come in for Curtis Jones, but Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister's partnership should not be broken up.

Slot is also facing the best kind of dilemma in the final third, where Mohamed Salah is of course a guarantee, while Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez are fighting for two places.

The former pair repaid Slot's faith against Leverkusen - Diaz scoring a hat-trick through the middle - but he may now return to a more familiar left-wing role as Nunez returns to lead the line, thereby forcing Gakpo to take his place on the bench.

Liverpool possible starting lineup: Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Salah, Szoboszlai, Diaz; Nunez

> Click here to see how Villa could line up for this clash