Liverpool takes on Stoke City tonight at Anfield in the second-leg of their League Cup semi-final tie.
Having won the first leg 0-1 at the Britannia, Jürgen Klopp will be desperate for his side to take advantage of their narrow lead and secure a place in the Wembley final.
Liverpool will be on a high following their come from behind 5-4 win against Norwich on Sunday while Mark Hughes team will be looking to recover from their 3-0 loss to league leaders Leicester City on Saturday.
A win tonight represents Liverpool’s best chance of winning a trophy this season, which means Klopp will select the best team he has available, and given Liverpool’s terrible defensive record will not try and defend a one goal lead, but look to add to it with an attack minded selection.
In goal will be Simon Mignolet, and while the Belgium keeper may be good at blocking crosses his decision making leaves a lot to be desired and especially so where set pieces are concerned, but with no one else up to the job it will fall on Mignolet to come up big against Stoke.
Nathanial Clyne is nursing a bruised knee following the match against Norwich, so we will welcome back Jon Flanagan at right-back, and hope that left-back Alberto Moreno has learned his lesson from the stupid penalty he gave away at the weekend.
Even though Croatian Dejan Lovren is available to return we are sticking with Mamadou Sakho and Kolo Toure in the heart of defence despite their pitfalls as Klopp has few other options.
Other than Flanagan the only other change would be to start Adam Lallana in place of Jordan Ibe, and given Roberto Firmino’s performance against Norwich now is not the time to give Benteke the start he is clamouring for.
