Darwin Nunez set to return as Liverpool kick off their week from HELL - predicted lineup

The Liverpool fixture list is about to get even more intense as they travel to face Aston Villa in the Premier League. Here's our predicted lineup.

Liverpool remain seven points clear at the top of the Premier League but Arne Slot's men will face an almighty test over the next week or so. The games come thick and fast and will push the Reds to their limit.

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Aston Villa away is next, with Liverpool making the trip on Wednesday. It'll mean they've played one more fixture than title challengers Arsenal, having had a game in hand over them for two months.

But this is the result of making the Carabao Cup final. Liverpool will play this extra game without having any time off.

Slot has little choice but to rotate, then. After this there's Manchester City away on Sunday - a match that promises to be one of the most intriguing of the entire Premier League season.

So with that in mind, here's how we expect Liverpool to lineup against Aston Villa.

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Predicted Liverpool lineup vs Aston Villa

Defence

Alisson Becker gave everyone a scare when he went down injured against Wolves on Sunday but he's fine and will almost certainly start here. Similarly, Virgil van Dijk is near-certain to be in the lineup, given he plays every league game.

Beyond those two, things get more complicated. We imagine Kostas Tsimikas will rotate in at left-back and it's very possible that Conor Bradley does the same on the opposite flank. It depends how much of a risk Slot wants to take here.

Because there's a solid argument that Jarell Quansah earned a starting place. It's an opportunity to rest Ibrahima Konate - but Slot may also want the Frenchman to play his way back into form.

But Liverpool also can't change too much. We think Quansah might get the nod and Trent Alexander-Arnold retains his spot at right-back, even if the latter is subbed for Bradley after an hour.

Midfield

The only one here who feels like a certainty is Curtis Jones. He was suspended against Wolves and so had the weekend off.

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All three of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai played the full 90 minutes, though. We imagine the plan will be to start one of the latter two and then swap them out before the hour.

The big question is 'who starts?'. Though maybe an even bigger question is 'can Gravenberch keep doing this?'. Liverpool don't have a proper replacement for him and will be asking too much of him over the coming months.

We think Slot will start Jones in the deeper role alongside Gravenberch, giving the latter some fresher legs alongside him. That gives Szoboszlai the attacking midfield role, but this one feels near impossible to predict.

Attack

Mo Salah is another who starts every Premier League game and we imagine he will do here, too. Cody Gakpo's injury rules him out and Luis Diaz's performance against Wolves makes that an easy decision on the left.

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That just leaves the centre-forward spot and we'd be shocked to see Diogo Jota start again. He'll almost certainly be the preferred forward against City at the weekend - so no reason to take any chances at Villa Park.

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Darwin Nunez didn't start against Wolves and so should be fresh enough to carry the energy in the forward line.

Predicted Liverpool XI vs Aston Villa:

(4-2-3-1); Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Gravenberch, Jones; Salah, Szoboszlai, Diaz; Nunez

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