Arne Slot brings back 'fantastic' player as Alisson decision made: Liverpool's predicted XI vs Newcastle

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Liverpool have yet another tricky week to navigate as they head for two big Premier League away games.

The Reds came through a huge few days unscathed at Anfield, beating Real Madrid and then Manchester City each by a 2-0 scoreline.

But having now amassed a nine point lead in the Premier League, they’ll be away from home comforts this time.

Arne Slot will get a taste of two incredibly tough away grounds as Liverpool head to Newcastle and then Everton.

First up is a trip up North for the Reds, as they look for a fourth win in succession at St James’ Park on Wednesday evening.

With some fitness issues to balance within the Liverpool squad, here’s how we think Slot will line his team up on Tyneside.

Defence

The big question for Slot looked set to be who he would play in goal. However, the Liverpool head coach suggested that Alisson Becker is not yet ready to play during his pre-match press conference.

As a result, Caoimhin Kelleher is set to make his 12th appearance of the season, with fellow stand-in Joe Gomez set for another go, too.

Gomez will be joined, as ever, by captain Virgil van Dijk, with Trent Alexander-Arnold ready to start again following his early substitution against Man City.

At left-back Slot would perhaps like to have Kostas Tsimikas available for this one. But with Tsimikas set to miss the next two games at least, Andy Robertson will have to play his third game in a week.

Midfield

Given the quality of the opposition and their midfield in particular, it seems unlikely that there’ll be much rotation in the middle of the park from Slot.

READ MORE: Paul Merson predicts who will win between Liverpool and Newcastle on Wednesday

That will mean that key men Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister start for a third match in succession.

We do think the Liverpool boss will make his usual swap in the attacking midfield spot, though, with Curtis Jones set to return for Dominik Szoboszlai. Jones has been ‘fantastic’ of late and will look to continue his good run.

Attack

Liverpool supporters will be hopeful that Federico Chiesa will be back in contention for Wednesday’s game. Chiesa has been back in training for a week now and there should be a possibility that the Italian is involved.

He certainly won’t start, however, with Mohamed Salah set to go again after a mini six-minute rest against City.

Salah is likely to be joined in attack by Darwin Nunez, who has great memories of Newcastle having scored two late winners at St James’ Park last August.

The question for Slot will then be who does he pick from the Liverpool left. After Cody Gakpo was taken off early against City, we think the Dutchman get the nod to continue his good run of form in front of goal.