Liverpool vs Leicester City: predicted starting XI

Leicester City’s final fixture of 2022 sees them visit one of the toughest grounds to play in as they face Liverpool on Friday night. It’s a mirror-swap of 2021, in which City played hosts to the Reds in the final fixture of the year, a brilliant goal from Ademola Lookman secured the Foxes a famous 1-0 win.

This year, the mood is very different. An embarrassing display at home to Newcastle saw Brendan Rodgers’ side tamed for almost the full 90. Numerous players have a lot of making-up to do, as well as Rodgers – early penalty aside, his game plan against the Magpies simply didn’t work.

Liverpool have endured a mixed season so far, inconsistent performances have seen them already drop out of the title race, with the Merseyside team currently sitting in sixth place; Leicester are thirteenth. Still, the Reds offer up one of the most frightening attacking lines in the Premier League with Mo Salah still as dangerous as ever, and the much-maligned Darwin Nunez causing havoc for defenders down the left.

If Leicester are to get anything from their trip to Anfield, they need to be defensively strong, as well as being clinical when attacking on goal – something that was lacking against Newcastle. A raft of injuries and out-of-favour players means we can’t expect wholesale changes on Friday, but I wouldn’t anticipate a carbon-copy of Boxing Day’s lineup.