West Ham at home Saturday 28th Feb at 3pm

[SB]

Time to put that inept performance behind us & focus on the Hammers. The 2 wingers look the least effective but there’s only Rio who we can count on unless Arne plays Chiesa centrally & Hugo on the left with Rio on the right. Hopefully Joey G is right to start at RB & Dom in midfield or does Arne play Dom in Mo’s position which he’s played many times for Leipzig? Knowing Slot he’ll play the same starting X1 on Saturday.

Arsenal play Chelsea & United play Palace so another big weekend in the chase for CL places.

[danperkins]

Gomez must start so Szob can play in midfield. No point in talking about dropping Mo and Gakpo as Slot isn't going to start Chiesa or Rio. There's just a huge lack of options in the squad. Villa also play Wolves away in the night fixture , they might a game there.

[baitman]

If we need a left footed winger then we can play kerkez there, and robbo at left back.
Rio on the right.
Gomez at rb.
A couple of the 21s as winger subs.

[peterbread]

Frimpong should be back but probably on the bench and it gives the team another attacking option out wide.

[kingfunk]

Wirtz out…

[Scratch]

Frimpong available again. Will he be risked from the start, or will maybe Gomez get 60 mins as RB and then decide?

[Buzzo]

Wirtz still out so going to be a tough match/watch.

[5europeancups]

play Chiesa in the role of Wirtz

[Doc_Piptorious]

play Chiesa in the role of Wirtz

Good shout.

His energy and tenacity coupled with his clever movement would make him a good fit for that role. Very different to Wirtz but still able to facilitate players around him and to enable quick passages of play linking with the likes of Ekitike and Salah.

[Yozza]

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against West Ham at Anfield (kick-off 15:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Jeremie Frimpong has trained "a few times this week" so is available to face West Ham.
  
• Florian Wirtz remains sidelined with an injury which he described as "a disappointment for him and for us". On the timescale for his return, he added: "I don't know. Usually when I say that, I do know and I don't want to share that. But this time, I honestly don't know."
  
• Slot said ending Mohamed Salah's goalless run is a "challenge he has" and "a team thing they have to improve" on.
  
• More on Salah: "He sets his own standards and they were so, so high. When he doesn't score for a few games, it means people are surprised. We are used to Mo scoring a lot of goals, but we also know this has happened before and in the end, he always starts scoring again."
  
• Slot added that Salah "is not our only attacker that's not scoring as much", as Hugo Ekitike and Cody Gakpo have also not scored as many recently.
  
• On another win putting pressure on teams battling for the top four: "We're not so focused on other teams and mainly on ourselves. We know we need to win a lot of games and that is what our focus is on. We are aware of the league table."
  
• He said Rio Ngumoha's playing time has improved massively over the past few weeks because he "developed and became a better player".
  
• On facing another team near the bottom of the league after struggling to break down Nottingham Forest last weekend: "I cannot manipulate the fact we have struggled a lot against the teams who were promoted or near the bottom. We understand how difficult winning games in general is - it doesn't matter where they are in the table."

[frank the tank]

**** i hope the Wirtz thing isn't serious.

**** sake.

With that in mind, surely we need Dom as an attacking midfielder.

Hope Gomez starts right back. If he isn't able to play 90, then Jones right back please. Not Dom.

I ****in hate us with both Gakpo and Salah in the same starting line up. But Slot will start them both again. He has to because he has no ****in squad.

[Doc_Piptorious]

**** i hope the Wirtz thing isn't serious.

**** sake.

With that in mind, surely we need Dom as an attacking midfielder.

Hope Gomez starts right back. If he isn't able to play 90, then Jones right back please. Not Dom.

I ****in hate us with both Gakpo and Salah in the same starting line up. But Slot will start them both again. He has to because he has no ****in squad.

Nah he is better as an 8 or a right sided CM or RM. Suits him more to be able to charge forward from a deeper position than to operate in tight pockets of space.

[Scratch]

Dom and Grav behind Macca?

[Mark79]

[ame]https://twitter.com/i/status/2027741828762792441[/ame]

[RedAndWhite]

1 - 0 Ekitike