Speaking to Off The Ball, Mark Lawrenson has claimed that Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk could be left out against Southampton.
The Egyptian and the Dutchman are two of the Reds’ most important players, but they both picked up knocks against Chelsea in the FA Cup final at the weekend.
Fortunately, neither player looks to have a season-ending problem, but, as Lawrenson alludes to, playing the pair against Southampton would be a risk, especially as Liverpool have the squad depth to cope without the pair.
What’s been said?
Lawrenson spoke about Salah and van Dijk.
“Yeah, I somehow don’t think that Salah or van Dijk will play against Southampton. I don’t think that what they have is serious. Probably, if it was a Champions League final they would be playing, but I wouldn’t mind betting that Klopp might just leave them out because obviously he can go for Konate and Matip, and then anyone can come in and play instead of Salah, so they would still have a team good enough to beat Southampton I would have thought,” Lawrenson said.
Not worth the risk
With goal difference no longer looking like being a factor in the title race, there’s really no need for Liverpool to go full-strength against Southampton.
The Saints have nothing to play for, and if Joel Matip and Diogo Jota come in for Salah and van Dijk, Liverpool will still be fielding a squad strong enough to win against Southampton.
At the same time, a loss to Southampton would hand the league title to Manchester City, but given the standard of opposition and a Champions League final on the horizon, rotating the squad would make a lot of sense.
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