Watch Aston Villa vs Liverpool in the Carabao Cup quarter-final on Tuesday from 7.30pm on Sky Sports Football
Wednesday 18 December 2019 10:44, UK
With Liverpool playing in two competitions on different continents in the space of 24 hours, we look at exactly what line-ups the Reds may put out for this week's Carabao Cup and Club World Cup clashes.
Liverpool take on Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday night - a match you can see live on Sky Sports Football - before facing Monterrey in Doha the following evening.
As a result, the European champions have opted to split their playing and coaching resources in order to be able to play in both competitions, with Liverpool U23 boss Neil Critchley reportedly taking charge of the club's Carabao Cup last-eight tie at Villa Park.
Meanwhile, manager Jurgen Klopp will take his strongest possible side out to Qatar as the club look to win the Club World Cup for the first time in their history, with the German explaining his thinking to Sky Sports.
"We had to plan and had talks about the Club World Cup in Qatar for much longer," he said. "We had to make a decision and the boys wanted to play - it's hopefully not a once in a lifetime chance, but it doesn't happen too often, you have to win the Champions League!
"After that we started playing the Carabao Cup. In England, [the Club World Cup] is not that important, for the rest of the world they look at that. We are Liverpool, a worldwide brand, we cannot do what we want, we must do what our supporters want.
"We didn't know if we'd go through [in the domestic competition]. Arsenal was a tough draw, we played it with a very young team and they did brilliant - now there's an opportunity for them to play the next round."
So, which players could feature in these two fixtures some 4,000 miles apart?
According to EFL rules, Liverpool are "committing to fielding a team that is largely consistent with those that have participated in earlier rounds of this season's competition," so expect a similar side to that who edged out Arsenal on penalties on October 30.
Given that FIFA also says that not every one of the Reds' 23-man Club World Cup squad have to actually be in Qatar for Wednesday's semi-final, that gives the club some wiggle room when it comes to picking their starting XI at Villa Park.
So despite being chosen for the trip to Doha, expect promising youngsters such as Harvey Elliott, Ki-Jana Hoever, Sepp van den Berg and Rhian Brewster (who is facing a late fitness test on an ankle injury) - who all starred in the previous round against Arsenal - to face Villa on Tuesday, before then flying out the next day to join the rest of the first team in the Qatari capital.
And the rest of the team will mainly comprise those players who either started the fourth-round win over Arsenal, or were on the bench that night at Anfield.
Predicted team to play Aston Villa: (4-3-3): Kelleher; Hoever, Koumetio, Van den Berg, Larouci; Chirivella, Dixon-Bonner, Kane; Elliott, Brewster, Longstaff
Subs: Ben Winterbottom, Clarkson, Coyle, Stewart, Christie-Davies, Lewis, Wilson
Have a go at picking your two different Liverpool line-ups for their Carabao Cup and Club World Cup clashes
With both Klopp and his assistant Pep Lijnders in Qatar for Liverpool's Club World Cup challenge, Critchley has been handed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to manage the Reds in Tuesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final.
The 41-year-old currently coaches the club's U23s, a role he has held since 2017, while prior to that he was in charge of the U18s for four years.
Critchley enjoyed a modest playing career, meanwhile, making his only appearance for Crewe in a 3-0 loss at Fulham back in the 1999-2000 League One season, before hanging up his boots in 2001 while at amateur side Leigh RMI.
It’s just a great opportunity. Unusual circumstances, quite unique circumstances really and I’m not sure it’s happened too many times or maybe it’s not happened in the past. The club have obviously tried to find what they think is the best solution
The one-time midfielder arrived at Anfield from Crewe in September 2013 - having been academy director at Gresty Road since 2007 - with a glowing coaching reputation.
In fact, Critchley is one of just 16 coaches in the country to have gained the highest possible qualification in the game after he was handpicked by the FA to take UEFA's first elite badge course.
And after 18 months, Critchley graduated to become one of the top-graded coaches in Europe, so much so that Klopp is believed to have total confidence in his understudy, who has been a regular at Melwood in recent weeks as the club gear up for this unique challenge.
With Liverpool putting all their eggs in the Club World Cup basket - despite winning the European Cup six times, the Reds have still to get their hands on this trophy - Klopp has taken his strongest possible squad out to the Gulf.
So expect the German to field his best XI in Doha against Mexican champions Monterrey on Wednesday as the club look to progress to Saturday's final against either Flamengo or Al-Hilal.
The exact make-up of that side is hard to predict, but with several injuries at the back - Joel Matip, Fabinho, Nathaniel Clyne and now Dejan Lovren are all sidelined - the defence pretty much picks itself, while everyone knows the Reds' favoured front three.
All of which leaves the identity of the midfield, with any three from captain Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana and James Milner likely to get the nod in Doha (Georginio Wijnaldum has travelled with the squad, but will miss the semi with injury).
Team to play Monterrey: (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Henderson, Keita; Salah, Mane, Firmino
Subs: Adrian, Shaqiri, Milner, Lallana, Origi, Williams, Jones (*Elliott, Van den Berg, Hoever and Wijnaldum available for final)
You can either watch Liverpool's Carabao Cup quarter-final with Villa on Sky Sports Football from 7pm on Tuesday, December 17, or with minute-by-minute updates across the Sky Sports website and app via our live match blog, with coverage starting at 6.30pm.
Meanwhile, you can keep up to date with both Liverpool games in Qatar with minute-by-minute updates across the Sky Sports website and app via our live match blog, with coverage of their semi-final beginning at 4pm on Wednesday, December 18.
