Leicester v Liverpool team news: Vardy, van Dijk and Tsimikas start, bench for Tielemans

Following the rare sight of weekday 15:00 (GMT) kick-offs, Tuesday’s action concludes at the King Power Stadium when Leicester City host Liverpool.

Kick-off is at 20:00 (GMT).

Liverpool have made five changes from the 11 that played nine days ago at Tottenham Hotspur. Their Boxing Day match with Leeds United was postponed, giving more time for Virgil van Dijk and Fabinho to recover from Covid-19 and return to the line-up.

There are no shocks regarding much-owned trio Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota – all three start tonight, as do Sadio Mane and Alisson.

Their three-man midfield has changed completely, with Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain joining Fabinho in replacing Naby Keita, Tyler Morton and James Milner. The final change sees Kostas Tsimikas step in for the suspended Andrew Robertson.

Takumi Minamino and Thiago miss out with minor muscle soreness, whilst Divock Origi still hasn’t recovered from a knee problem. Sat amongst the substitutes are Roberto Firmino and Ibrahima Konate.

Things are trickier for Leicester, as the hosts are without the likes of Harvey Barnes, Patson Daka and Ricardo Pereira. All are joined on the injury list by Caglar Soyuncu and Ryan Bertrand, as confirmed by Brendan Rodgers:

“Patson [Daka] will be three weeks, Soyuncu will be out for three weeks and Ricardo Pereira will be six to eight weeks. That’s so frustrating for him with how hard he has worked. It’s a fractured fibula and he’s lucky it’s not worse. Ryan (Bertrand) twisted his knee in the warm-up, which was disappointing.”

Unlike Liverpool, the Foxes played just two days ago and had to manage the minutes of Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi accordingly. Both start here, with Timothy Castagne replacing Marc Albrighton at right-back.

In-form James Maddison is chosen for the sixth consecutive time, having returned four double-digit hauls in his last five games. The 53 points of this spell average out at 10.6 per match, linking up well with Kelechi Iheanacho during a strong second half at Manchester City.

Yet their defence conceded six times on Sunday and Salah captainers will relish the sight of Daniel Amartey and midfielder Ndidi being paired at centre-back in the absence of Soyuncu and Jonny Evans. There is only a place on the bench for Youri Tielemans, as Hamza Choudhury makes his second league start of the season.

GAMEWEEK 20 LINE-UPS

Leicester City XI: Schmeichel; Castagne, Amartey, Ndidi, Thomas; Dewsbury-Hall, Soumare, Choudhury; Maddison; Iheanacho, Vardy

Substitutes: Ward, Daley-Campbell, Nelson, Vestergaard, Albrighton, McAteer, Tielemans, Lookman, Pérez

Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Tsimikas; Fabinho, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Salah, Jota, Mane

Substitutes: Kelleher, Konate, Milner, Keita, Firmino, Gomez, Jones, Beck, Williams

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