The games always come thick and fast for the top sides, but having beat Burnley last Sunday before taking on Atletico Madrid on Wednesday and now with an early Saturday kickoff against Everton to prepare for, Liverpool are dealing with an especially compressed schedule.
Fortunately for Liverpool manager Arne Slot, the return of Curtis Jones to training this week means he has no significant fitness issues to try to deal with and every one of his first team regulars is set to to be available to him for selection in the derby tomorrow.
“We had to play this week three games, which is something we have to do a lot but it is not many times that you have to do this in seven days,” the Liverpool manager noted. “So, Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday is not a schedule you see a lot, but it is what it is.”
In addition to the returning Jones, Slot may also have a decision to make regarding superstar summer signing Alexander Isak, who played his first minutes for his new club against Atleti and went an unexpected 60 minutes despite expectations he would play less.
The idea heading into the week was that Isak would get 45 minutes against either Atleti or Everton—but would likely not play against both. Now, though, it seems as though he might in fact be in contention to face Everton, though an appearance off the bench may be more likely.
“We had our recovery yesterday and we’re going to train this afternoon,” Slot added. “So first of all we will have to see how they all feel now. What I do know is that Alex did I think feel his body maybe more than ever after the 60 minutes he played on Wednesday.
“So let’s see how he’s recovered and then we’ll think about the line-up. Hugo [Ekitike] can also play from the left, different from Cody [Gakpo] or Rio [Ngumoha]. This is the good thing about our squad, we have options. But first they have to stay fit for me to have these options.
“If some of them are not fit then it all depends on the form they are in and how many players we have available. But I think maybe all are fit now so I think that I can choose between 21 players. That’s quite normal, I think—it’s not that it’s far too many.”