Liverpool’s Premier League season kicks off on Saturday when they travel to Craven Cottage to face newly promoted Fulham.
The Reds are no strangers to facing a newly promoted side on the first day of the season. In the last three seasons, they’ve faced Norwich twice and Leeds once, and they’ve won both times.
The Reds come into this match as heavy favorites, but in games like this, it’s the performance that matters more than the result sometimes.
There’s a lot of speculation around how Liverpool will line up for this one. Will Darwin Nunez start the first game of the season? Does Joe Gomez get back into the team after signing his new contract? What sort of roles will Fabio Carvalho and Harvey Elliott have this season?
These are all burning questions, and with that in mind, we’ve had a go at predicting Liverpool’s starting XI for this one.
We think that Jurgen Klopp will make three changes from the team that beat Manchester City in the Community Shield.
Predictably, Alisson Becker returns in the sticks after recovering from his short-term injury, while the back four remains the same as the one we saw at the King Power Stadium.
There is a change in midfield.
Managing Thiago Alcantara’s fitness will be key this season, and while he’d probably love to start the opening game, it’s fair to say that Liverpool could get past Fulham without fielding their absolute strongest XI.
Therefore, we’re tipping Harvey Elliott to start alongside Jordan Henderson and Fabinho. Let’s not forget, that Elliott was starting on almost a weekly basis last season before his injury and we expect him to slot right back in here.
Up top, we’ve tipped Darwin Nunez to start ahead of Roberto Firmino in this one, while Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah make up what is sure to be a front three we become very familiar with this term.
