MatchTottenham Hotspur v Liverpool: Carabao Cup team news

Illness caused the midfielder to miss the Reds’ 2-2 draw with Manchester United on Sunday and, during Tuesday morning’s pre-match press conference, Arne Slot said: “Yesterday he wasn’t in [training] yet. If he’s in today, I would doubt if he’s available to start the game.

“But hopefully he’s in today. Yesterday he wasn’t.”

Liverpool visit Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where they won 6-3 in the Premier League a little over two weeks ago, on Wednesday night and will be without Joe Gomez, who has a hamstring injury.

Caoimhin Kelleher routinely plays in the Carabao Cup but Slot did not confirm his plans for the goalkeeper position when asked to do so.

“I think I decided the whole line-up already but, in many ways, people [journalists in the press conference] have tried to get to know what the line-up is!” the head coach replied.

“I said many times that there are many things going into a line-up and that is the same for tomorrow again… if you ask me after the game I am more than happy to answer those questions but first of all I think the players should know how we are going to play and if all of them are available, that is also something we have to find out.”

Slot was also quizzed on whether he will rotate his squad for the first leg and stated: “I think if you look at all the fixtures we’ve had this season, there are so many things going into a line-up – short term, long term, qualities of the opponent, where are my players [at]?

“So, it’s going to always be a decision made about, in our opinion, the best line-up for tomorrow. In some situations, for Southampton away or other games, in my opinion the best line-up was the ones that didn’t start a lot.

“Let’s see what that is tomorrow for the game we play against Tottenham.”

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou also opted against providing details of who his starting goalkeeper will be, but did confirm that new signing Antonin Kinsky is available.

“We’ll see,” Postecoglou said, when asked if the 21-year-old stopper will make his Spurs debut on Wednesday.

“He obviously arrived Sunday, he’s had a couple of days of training and he’s registered and eligible to play. We’ve still got to do a couple of final things with him and then we’ll see.”

Postecoglou’s media briefing took place on Tuesday afternoon and on whether he had any ‘good news’ to report on player availability, he responded: “It depends. I think net-wise we are still down.

“We’ll get [Rodrigo] Bentancur back but we lose [James] Maddison and Pape Sarr by suspension so we are a couple of numbers down there. And in terms of the injuries, no-one is back. Mikey [Moore] potentially could be available to be on the bench.

“Everyone else from the weekend certainly feels better. Radu [Dragusin] has recovered, Archie [Gray] is better, they were the kind of main ones.

“Deki [Dejan Kulusevski] was a little bit under the weather but he’s good, so pretty much as was on the weekend, plus Bentancur and minus the other two.”

Ben Davies, Wilson Odobert, Richarlison, Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie, Micky van de Ven and Guglielmo Vicario remain sidelined.

On the task of facing Liverpool and his strategy for the two-legged tie, which concludes at Anfield on February 6, Postecoglou said: “We’ve got an opponent who has been the standout team so far this year in all competitions.

“Irrespective of how you play you realise there is a second leg to be played but that doesn’t change our approach for tomorrow. We’re at home and when it’s a two-legged affair, if you can get some kind of advantage in your home game that sets you up pretty well so that’s what we’ll try to do.

“They are a top side. They’re really settled, I think they have got just about everyone fit and healthy. They can rotate players so they’re in a good moment and it will be a great challenge for us.”

Last match

Liverpool 2-2 Manchester United (January 5): Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones, Salah, Diaz, Gakpo.

Tottenham 1-2 Newcastle United (January 4): Austin, Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence, Bergvall, Sarr, Kulusevski, Johnson, Solanke, Werner.