Champions League: Atalanta v Liverpool Preview and Predictions
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Atalanta host Liverpool at the Bergamo in what will surely be a pulsating encounter. Going into a double header, both of the teams will be aiming to come out top against each other for the top spot in the group. The team who finishes first in any group always faces off against teams that finish second in other groups, so the both of them will be hoping to win against each other.
Preview
Liverpool have received good news in the form that Naby Keita, Joel Matip and Konstantinos Tsimikas have returned to full training. The trio boarded the flight to Bergamo with the regular team and manager Jurgen Klopp will take a late decision on them. Currently Fabinho and Thiago are expected to return after the international break. The confirmed injuries for Liverpool include Virgil Van Dijk and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, who is expected to return this month.
Nathaniel Phillips, who played incredibly against West Ham United will not play for Liverpool in the Champions League as his name wasn’t included in their squad list. Joe Gomez is expected to partner with Joel Matip or Rhys Williams. But if Klopp is cautious, he might even ask Jordan Henderson to play as centre-back. The front three is expected to be changed as Diogo Jota might be included in place of out of form Roberto Firmino, while Xherdan Shaqiri might start today.
Atalanta suffers from the injury to defender Martin De Roon and Robin Gosens. Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini said that they’ll make a late assessment on Hans Hateboer, Jose Luis Palomino and Cristian Romero.
Predicted Line-ups
Liverpool: Alisson (GK), Alexander Arnold, Gomez, Matip, Robertson, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Mane, Jota and Salah
Atalanta: Sportiello, Toloi, Romero, Djimsiti, Hateboer, Pasalic, Gosens, Ilicic, Gomez and Zapata
Predictions
Both the teams will be confident as they defeated their weekend opponents. Both of them play beautiful attacking football and counter-attack devastatingly. However this is where Liverpool might trip. They have a bad habit of taking their time to get used to the game and start slow. They got away with it against Ajax and Midtjylland, but Atalanta is a tougher side to beat. Atalanta might hit them hard from the opening minutes and score early goals to put pressure on Liverpool. With no mitigation to their defensive injury crisis, Liverpool might have to face reality this time.
Despite their defensive fragility, Liverpool is vastly superior in its attack and Atalanta are not defensively strong themselves. So we predict a breathtaking and thrilling draw between both sides.
Also read: Ajax hit hard with Covid-19 testing
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FS Desk
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