Liverpool team vs Tottenham predicted as Arne Slot faces Hugo Ekitike dilemma

Liverpool's team against Tottenham predicted as Arne Slot faces Hugo Ekitike and Mohamed Salah dilemmas, and the Reds need a win in the race for the Champions League places

Liverpool forwards Hugo Ekitike and Mohamed Salah will be hoping to play against Tottenham(Image: Ed Sykes/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)

Liverpool has just three more games to play before the March international break and there is little in the way of margin for error for Arne Slot when it comes to his team selection.

Playing catch-up in the race for the Champions League places, the Reds need victories against Tottenham and Brighton. In between, they also need to come from behind in Europe and overturn a 1-0 deficit against Galatasaray.

This weekend, for the visit of Spurs, Alisson Becker is likely to be back in contention. He is not guaranteed to be fit, but if he is ready, he will start ahead of Giorgi Mamardashvili, who deputized well midweek.

At the back, Jeremie Frimpong could be back in contention for a start, with Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk at center-back. Milos Kerkez is likely to be the left-back.

In midfield, there is a decision to be made on Alexis Mac Allister. Slot could go with Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai as a two, with Florian Wirtz in front.

That would mean Cody Gakpo could play on the left and Mohamed Salah on the right, with Hugo Ekitike as the number nine, though the Egyptian has been in poor form of late and the Frenchman will be needed twice more this week with Alexander Isak still out.

Slot hinted on Friday that Rio Ngumoha could start but he is likelier to be used off the bench. Federico Chiesa should be recovered from illness but he is unlikely to start.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has some tough decisions to make(Image: BSR Agency/Getty Images)

"I think if Tottenham would be the number one in the league at the moment, every fan would expect us at home to win," Slot said in his pre-match press conference.

"And that is if we play against Man City, that’s when we play against Arsenal, that’s every game this club plays at home: we’re expected to win. That has nothing to do with the form of the other team or where they are in the league or the quality they have.

"We can win our 1,500th [league] game at home, so expectations come from history and history has shown that this club has been able to win a lot of games, let alone home games.

"So, it doesn’t matter who we play, who we face, expectations are always sky-high at this club, and that’s what we are embracing because that also means, as I said before, that this club is able to win things.

"That’s what we’ve done in the past few years and in history as well.

"I think the bar at Liverpool is always high. It has always been high and will always be high. And that’s only a good thing. We’re a top club, where the bar should be set high by the people around us, but we will set the bar just as high.

"Yeah, indeed, last season where we were able to achieve one of the things we wanted to achieve and that was winning a league, close to winning the League Cup, which we lost in the final against Newcastle.

"This season of course we’re unable to win the league again, but we’re still in two cups, Champions League and the FA Cup, where we are competing."

Liverpool predicted XI vs Tottenham: Alisson; Frimpong, Van Dijk, Konate, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Wirtz; Salah, Ekitike, Gakpo.