James Pearce breaks team news before Ajax match

Liverpool reporter James Pearce has broken some team news.

Ajax arrives in town on Tuesday for their Champions League clash. This is a game that the Reds can’t afford to lose, especially after the defeat to Atalanta last week.

Points are still required if Liverpool want to progress to the next stage of the competition, and the Dutch giants will not be an easy side to play against.

They might not be at the level they were when they got to the Champions League semi-final during the season the Reds won it, but they’re still a strong outfit who are having an excellent domestic campaign.

Which makes the news that Joel Matip is returning to the starting lineup even better. He was left out of the side against Brighton as a precaution – something that we could all understand given his awful injury record.

But now Matip will be joining Fabinho, hopefully, in the heart of defence as Klopp tries to mastermind a Liverpool win over Ajax.

Rhys Williams has done well during his European exploits but he was exposed by Atalanta’s forward line as the Reds’ conceded two goals in the second half. The fluid, confident Ajax attack would be another difficult test for Williams, who might have to watch this one from the bench.

Despite this uplift in mood, the Reds will also have some players out. Thiago, Xherdan Shaqiri, Trent Alexander-Arnold and James Milner will all be out of the clash.

This season is taking a tremendous strain on all of the squad, but we’re getting to the stage now where it’s becoming difficult to rotate because there are no players left in the squad. This is putting more strain on the existing players, who have to get more minutes and put themselves at more risk.

But one person we don’t have to worry about right now is big Joel Matip.