Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Liverpool play host to Leeds this Evening in EFL Cup action and will look to continue their winning momentum and in turn book a place in the Semi Final stage. If that were to be the case then they would be just two more matches from a return to Wembley and a bid to go one better than last season’s final defeat to Manchester City.
That February loss was the first of two final defeats for Jurgen Klopp’s men last season and they will be looking to go all the way this time around and not only win the first major silverware of the season but also deliver a first trophy under Jurgen Klopp’s stewardship.
Saturday saw them eventually edge past Sunderland with a 2-0 victory but that win came at a cost with Philippe Coutinho being stretched off injured early on and the Brazilian is now expected to be out until the start of 2017. How much of a detriment to their league campaign remains to be seen but you would imagine that he would have been rested for the visit of Leeds anyhow.
In the previous round Jurgen Klopp took the opportunity to make 11 changes against Tottenham and they progressed to the quarter finals with a 2-1 win over the Premier League rivals, therefore you would have to expect the same amount of changes tonight but that’s not to say that Leeds should be taken lightly.
Garry Monk has bought that rare commodity to Elland Road and that is stability. The Yorkshire club are reaping the benefits of keeping hold of a manager for more than 5 minutes as they currently find themselves 5th in The Championship and the hope will be that their recent form continues as they look to solidify a play-off spot.
Saturday saw them beat a 10 man Rotherham side in what was a feisty local derby, that win was their fourth in their last five league matches and Monk will hope that the positive momentum can be carried forward to Anfield this evening.
Whether Leeds can pull off an upset all depends on how strong both theirs and Liverpool’s line ups turn out to be. Garry Monk is keeping his cards close to his chest as to whether or not he goes with a full strength side later Tonight.
If you are a Leeds fan you would hope that they gave it a real go but as always perhaps maintaining league form regardless of division takes the most importance.
Obviously you can never say never in cup Football but I think even Liverpool’s fringe players should have enough to just edge past Leeds this evening. I’ll go with both teams to score but the Merseyside outfit to move on to the Semi’s
