Fun fact: Luton have played more away matches at Liverpool without a win (14) than any other opponent. It’s also been nearly 33 years since their last win over the Reds home or away, when Iain Dowie’s second-half brace sparked a 3-1 come-from-behind win over the Reds on the artificial pitch of Kenilworth Road.
The Hatters came agonisingly close to ending that winless run in November when Tahith Chong’s goal nearly held up, but Liverpool were able to snatch a point through super sub Luis Diaz’s 95th-minute strike.
“They [Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez] couldn’t have played tonight,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says. “Everybody who can play tonight will be there. From here we will see who will be back for [Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Chelsea], but that is not important at the moment.”
He adds: “We are completely different since last time [facing Luton] they did well and we should have score goals. I have seen plenty of games of Luton’s and the improvement they have made is crazy and deserves a lot of respect.
“Luton started very pragmatic [at the start of the season] and developed football based since then and it’s a really good job what Rob [Edwards] is doing there. Will it be a test for us? Yes.
“It is about getting in the game and causing problems and winning the game.”
Elsewhere in north-west navel-gazing, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has outlined his plans to restore Manchester United to their former glory by knocking Liverpool and Manchester City “off their perch” within the next three years.
Speaking less than 24 hours after taking control of football operations at Old Trafford, the 71-year-old billionaire admitted that United would have to learn stark lessons from the way their rivals had moved so far ahead in the 11-years since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure.
In a wide-ranging interview, Ratcliffe refused to be directly drawn on the future of Erik ten Hag. However he said that failure of multiple managers since 2013 suggested the structure and atmosphere of the club needed fixing most of all.
“We have a lot to learn from our noisy neighbour and the other neighbour,” Ratcliffe said. “They are the enemy at the end of the day. There is nothing I would like better than to knock both of them off their perch.
“But they have been in a good place for a while and there are things we can learn from both of them. They have sensible organisations, great people within the organisations, a good, driven and elite environment that they work in. I am very respectful of them but they are still the enemy.”
Jurgen Klopp has made five changes to the Liverpool side that won 4-1 over Brentford on Saturday with Quansah, Gomez, Gravenberch, Gakpo and Elliott all entering the team. Notably, no Salah and no Nunez on the bench. Rob Edwards has made no changes from Luton following their 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at the weekend.
Liverpool
XI: Kelleher, Bradley, Quansah, van Dijk, Gomez, Gravenberch, Endo, Mac Allister, Elliott, Gakpo, Diaz
Hello and welcome to Anfield for tonight’s Premier League meeting between Liverpool and Luton Town. The Premier League leaders, whose 57 points are one better than Manchester City (56) and two ahead of Arsenal (55), are playing host to the Hatters, who remain at 18th and inside the relegation zone after Saturday’s closely played 2-1 defeat to Manchester United.
The big story with Liverpool concerns their mounting injury list, which has come to resemble a Mash unit. Jurgen Klopp’s side will be without Alisson (“for the foreseeable”) and Diogo Jota, who is expected to miss several months. Mo Salah is also in doubt for today’s match in addition to Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, Thiago Alcântara and possibly Dominik Szoboszlai.
The team sheets will be with us any moment and we’ll have them over to you directly.