Cardiff v Liverpool: preview and possible lineups

Tom Cunild 5 years ago 7.4k |

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Mo Salah will be hoping to bag his twentieth league goal of the season against lowly Cardiff. EFE

Liverpool travel to South Wales on Sunday afternoon as they look to regain the lead in the title race against a Cardiff side fighting for Premier League survival at the foot of the table.

Team News

Cardiff

Neil Warnock's side will be without midfielder Harry Arter, who is still recovering from a calf injury, as well as Sol Bamba, Callum Paterson and Matthew Connolly - all of which will miss what is left of this campaign.

Aron Gunnarsson faces a late fitness test after suffering back spasms, and could be in line to start if he passes.

Apart from that, Warnock will most likely look to keep the same team that produced a crucial 2-0 win against Brighton in midweek.

Liverpool

Roberto Firmino is likely to be reinstated to the Liverpool XI after only playing the second half against Porto on Tuesday. Sunday's fixture may prove to come too soon for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as he steps up his return from long-term injury, but Joe Gomez is back in contention after featuring against Porto off the bench.

Dejan Lovren should also be available after recovering from the illness that kept him out of the Reds' trip to Portugal, with Jürgen Klopp enjoying the luxury of an almost full strength squad to choose from at a crucial stage of the season.

Managers' Thoughts

Warnock excited for Liverpool test and highlights importance of atmosphere

“It’s going to be an amazing game,” the 70 year-old stated. “Everybody’s talking about it, so the atmosphere will be fabulous and we’ll try to enjoy it as much as we can, because you’ve got to do that when the pressure’s on."

“I don’t want it to be an occasion where we say it’s a lovely day and get battered: I want us to put up a fight and that’s what we’ve been working on. We’ve got to keep those good standards up for the rest of the season.”

April 19, 2019

Klopp insists Reds aren't feeling the pressure

“We still don’t feel the pressure. We see and feel it as an opportunity,” said the German manager, before adding: Fighting for the league is much more positive. That is what we try but it is still a tough job. Now we can sit and talk but on Sunday we have to sweat a lot and work a lot and go through really difficult moments. If we do that we have a chance to win there as well.”