Burnley vs Liverpool Predicted Lineups

The champions Liverpool come to Turf Moor to face Burnley off the back of 3 dramatic wins out of 3 to begin the defence of their title. Last minute goals to take the lead against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Arsenal in dramatic fashion is probably a more stressful start to the season than Slot would like, but those are 3 tough fixtures against 3 of the most physical, athletic teams in the league. Everyone on Merseyside will be happy sitting top of the table, as the only team in the league with 9 points from 9. Their starting lineup will look to click into full gear with all of the new editions looking to improve and settle further game after game.

Burnley come in to this game as massive underdogs of course, but they Clarets have had a pretty good start to the season. An expected loss to Spurs away from home in GW1, followed up with a massive win over fellow promoted team and relegation candidate Sunderland in GW2, making that a 6 pointer. In GW3 they played valiantly against Manchester United but fell just short in the final moments of added time, giving away a penalty which Bruno Fernandes scored to give United the win.

Liverpool will look to establish complete control of this game, impose their will and let their ridiculous attacking talent shine. Burnley will look to defend deep, likely with a back-5, but Liverpool will be looking to continue to silence the talk of their supposed defensive frailties by swiftly dealing with any Burnley counter attacks and re-establishing possession and control. This is the Reds easiest test so far this season and nothing less than 3 points will suffice.

 

Lineups will be updated throughout the week in live time as and when injury and lineup news is announced.

Green Light: Confident the player will start.

Amber Light: A toss up on whether the player will start.

Red Light: Confident the player will not start.

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Burnley Predicted Lineup:

Burnley Team News:

No major injury concerns coming out of the international break. Scott Parker, speaking on Friday, said “We’re fine, really. All players have come back fit and healthy from the international break. We are pretty solid”. Burnley of course have far fewer players going away to international duty than your mid table and elite Premier League clubs, and so there is very little to report when it comes to their players even playing during the international break let alone picking up injuries, which is great news for Burnley fans and coaches.

I believe Burnley will shift to a 5-2-2-1 for this game against Liverpool. It would be foolish to play 4-2-3-1 and  attempt to build flood bodies forward and take the game to Liverpool. The most obvious change is to bring in Oliver Sonne to play right centre-back alongside Ekdal and Esteve, with Walker and Hartman playing wing-back. Ugochukwu and Cullen protecting the back-5 in midfield, with Anthony, Mejbri and Forster playing ahead of them. Bruun Larsen would be the likeliest player to give way when shifting to a back-5 system after starting against Manchester United in GW3.

Burnley Players to Watch:

Sonne:

Bruun Larsen:

Liverpool Predicted Lineup:

Liverpool Team News:

Slot, speaking on Friday, announced “Curtis Jones got injured in the last game and so he will not be available against Burnley but the rest of them all came back without a problem and I think that is not always the situation early in the season”. Outside of Jones being ruled out for Burnley, positive news for Liverpool and Slot where injuries are concerned post international break.

Konate’s injury in the Arsenal game was thought to not be serious and that was proven to be correct as he started for France and played all 90 minutes in both of France’s World Cup Qualifiers and will start against Burnley. The Marc Guehi deal collapsing has meant Konate remains a guaranteed starter when fit.

After his back-to-back brilliant displays at right-back, and now facing Burnley, I don’t see why he would not start there again to give Liverpool his passing range, crossing ability, ball striking and pace from right-back. He can invert comfortably into midfield from right-back when needed, while Gravenberch and Mac Allister start in midfield with Wirtz of course playing as the 10. Mac Allister will start alongside Gravenberch in midfield given Jones has been ruled out for this game. Mac Allister is so good at dictating play and creating openings and chances against low blocks which is what Liverpool will face.

Connor Bradley has returned to full fitness, and started both of Northern Ireland’s World Cup qualifying games during this international break and will likely feature off the bench. Frimpong has returned to team training after his hamstring injury that kept him out of the Arsenal game and international duty with the Netherlands. How that right-back position and who starts there and when, is a very interesting one to watch over the next few GWs.

Alexander Isak joined Liverpool for a British transfer record £125m fee. He had his first team training sessions in months with the Sweden National Team, but did not feature at all in their first game against Slovenia. Sweden coach Jon Dahl Tomasson spoke on the decision to not play Isak at all, stating “He had only done three training sessions with the team. No preseason with the team and, of course, no playing time. The risk is probably a bit too great to use him today”. Isak then did come off the bench for his first minutes in a competitive game since last season, against Kosovo in the 72nd minute.

Slot, speaking about Isak on Friday said “The Swedish manager deserves a big compliment… needs to play two very important games, but understands if he were to play him (Isak) twice for 90 minutes then probably the player would have been injured for multiple weeks. We will treat Alex the same… Don’t expect him to be every single game 90 minutes… That’s definitely not going to happen in the upcoming weeks.”

Slot very concretely ruling Isak out of starting against Burnley and likely also ruling him out of starting in the Merseyside derby in GW5. GW6 against Palace will Isak’s first real shot at starting. He will likely get 10-15 minutes off the bench against Burnley which hopefully allows him to play 20-30 minutes off the bench against Everton. Ekitike will start alongside Salah and Gakpo for the next 2 games minimum.

Liverpool Players to Watch:

Isak:

Konate:

Szoboszlai:

Mac Allister:

Ekitike:

Bradley:

Frimpong:

Jones:

Final Thoughts:

Liverpool will set up in their usual 4-2-3-1 and look to control the game and steadily and consistently build attacks and quality chances and kill this game off by halftime if they can. Burnley will play the back-5 with 2 deeper midfielders just ahead, and look to sit deep, defend compactly and hold Liverpool out as long as possible. Liverpool have a near fully fit squad with Isak off the bench if they need more firepower in the second half, and in the end it is hard to see anything other than a comfortable Liverpool win.