Jota, Williams and Phillips start as Liverpool host Saints side with Forster in goal

Liverpool are forced into a second-string defence as they host Southampton in Triple Gameweek 35.

Ozan Kabak (£5.0m) and Ben Davies (£4.7m) both miss the Saturday-evening encounter which makes for a centre-back pairing of Nathaniel Phillips (£4.1m) and Rhys Williams (£4.0m).

Andrew Robertson (£7.1m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.6m) retain their starting berths, meanwhile.

Roberto Firmino (£9.0m) finds himself on the bench tonight which allows Diogo Jota (£7.0m) to start up-front, flanked by Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) and Sadio Mané (£11.7m)

James Milner (£5.3m) and Naby Keita (£5.2m) are also absent which means Thiago Alcantara (£5.5m), Georginio Wijnaldum (£5.3m) and Fabinho (£5.4m) form the central-midfield trio.

Southampton come to Anfield in their usual 4-2-2-2 shape although most of the Fantasy Premier League attention is on their goalkeeper position, tonight occupied by Fraser Forster (£4.0m).

It is his first start since Gameweek 31, ending a run of two successive starts for Alex McCarthy (£4.4m).

Triple Gameweek 35 Line-ups

Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Robertson, R Williams, N Phillips, Alexander-Arnold; Thiago, Wijnaldum, Fabinho; Mané, Jota, Salah.

Southampton XI (4-4-2): Forster; J Stephens, Vestergaard, Bednarek, Walker-Peters; Tella, Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Redmond; Adams, Walcott.

Triple Gameweek 35 so far…

Edouard Mendy (£5.2m) was the latest Triple Gameweek 35 option to punish his Free Hit sellers on Saturday.

He was the beneficiary of a woeful Sergio Aguero (£10.3m) penalty as Manchester City hosted Chelsea.

The centre-forward did manage to get an assist for Raheem Sterling‘s (£11.0m) first-half goal but is struggling to convince many of his worth between now and his Gameweek 38 bow.

Hakim Ziyech (£7.9m) netted the equaliser for Chelsea, allowing César Azpilicueta (£5.9m) to extend his lead among his colleagues for points since Thomas Tuchel took over (79 pre-bonus).

Marcos Alonso (£5.7m) finally delivered on his admittedly dwindling Fantasy appeal in the dying stages.

Making just his second start since Gameweek 32, the left wing-back netted his second goal of the season.

Provisional bonus points

• 3 – César Azpilicueta, Edouard Mendy
• 2 – Hakim Ziyech

GET IN-GAME DATA AT LIVE FPL

Check your own rank and in-play FPL stats on LiveFPL.net every Gameweek