Jurgen Klopp’s Premier League leaders are in Qatar contesting the Club World Cup, meaning Neil Critchley will lead a youthful Reds side in the EFL Cup.
Liverpool are set to hand out a whole host of debuts during Tuesday’s intriguing EFL Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa with the Sun (17 December, page 55) reporting that the likes of Tony Gallagher and Morgan Boyes are in line to feature for the first time.
It almost feels like Liverpool are too impressive for their own good right now. Their reward for winning the Champions League last season and storming their way into the latter stages of the EFL Cup? Two games in the space of 24 hours in two different continents.
While Jurgen Klopp has taken Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and co to Qatar to contest the Club World Cup, their EFL Cup hopes have been left in the hands of Neil Critchley’s kids with an array of teenagers set to do battle against Dean Smith’s Villa in the Midlands tonight.
The Sun reports that Caoimhin Kelleher, Sepp Van den Berg, Ki-Jana Hoever, Harvey Elliott and Rhian Brewster are expected to be given a chance to impress, having already played in the competition this season, and they will be joined by a number of little-known newcomers.
Teenagers Boyes and Gallagher could feature at right and left-back respectively while Elijah Dixon-Bonner (below), a 2015 signing from Arsenal who has shone at reserve level, could make his first senior appearance at the age of 18 in midfield.
Isaac Christie-Davies (below) also swapped London for Liverpool, joining from Chelsea on a free last summer, and he could be trusted to lead the line by Critchley at Villa Park.
Liverpool have no real choice but to put their faith in youth but, given the way Curtis Jones, Hoever and the outstanding Elliott have already performed in the EFL Cup this season, don’t rule out the prospect of the next generation stepping up to the plate in style.
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