Liverpool Team News Update + Predicted Starting XI To Face Everton

Liverpool play host to Merseyside rivals Everton on Tuesday night with both clubs looking for a positive result to boost their top-four hopes.

Ahead of the game, boss Brendan Rodgers has given Liverpoolfc.com a team news and injury update with the latest on the fitness of Joe Allen and Mamadou Sakho.

Midfielder Allen has missed much of the season already with injury problems and was forced to sit out Saturday’s 2-0 FA Cup win over Bournemouth with a tight hamstring. Rodgers has confirmed the Welshman’s fitness will be assessed over the next 24 hours before a decision is made over his involvement against Everton, as the Reds boss doesn’t want to risk his long-term fitness.

Sakho has also been hampered with a hamstring injury in recent weeks and Rodgers has revealed that the Frenchman is facing another two to three weeks on the sidelines meaning he’ll have a similar squad to Saturday’s game to choose from.

Rodgers told the clubs official website:

“Nothing has changed from the weekend, really. We still have 24 hours to assess one or two of our players, but otherwise we’ll be pretty much the same as the weekend.”

“We just need to see [with Allen]. We’ve still got a wee bit of time to decide that, and he was on the training field today.

“It’s just a case of assessing Joe on whether this game is going to push him too much and whether he’s fully fit.

“What we don’t want is another injury. Maybe if we had a raft of players, we could put him in and if he came out of the team we’d have someone else to put in.

“At this moment in time, we don’t have that, so we have to think not only about tomorrow night, but the coming weeks because we’ve got some very important games.

“Sakho won’t be available. He’s still two to three weeks away yet with his injury.”

With Sakho joining Daniel Agger on the sidelines it looks like Kolo Toure will continue alongside Martin Skrtel at the heart of defence tomorrow.

Jose Enrique is also still out but Jon Flanagan returned to action with a late substitute appearance at the weekend so could feature in the game, although Martin Kelly is still favourite to retain his place at right-back.

Lucas Leiva is of course still missing after being ruled out for up to two months with a knee injury so Jordan Henderson is expected to start beside Steven Gerrard in midfield but Raheem Sterling could be recalled in place of Victor Moses in attack despite the Nigerian scoring on Saturday.

Simon Mignolet will return in goal while Daniel Sturridge started on the right against Bournemouth and is expected to do so again tomorrow. Here’s our predicted line-up:

What do you think of our team? What line-up would you choose for the game? Share your views below.