Leicester provides LFC with 1st Domestic Cup challenge

Liverpool begin their third competition of the season on Wednesday as they welcome Championship side Leicester City to Anfield for a 3rd round League Cup clash. It’s the first look at Domestic Cup action in 2023-24.

It will be interesting once again to see how Jurgen Klopp approaches this domestic competition. My guess is the likes of Wataru Endo and Cody Gakpo should both see a start alongside Harvey Elliott and maybe Ben Doak?

I would be shocked to see Mohamed Salah make a midweek appearance in this one.

Liverpool should be considered the favorites regardless of who they send out for their Starting XI, but Leicester have always been a unique challenge for the Reds over the years.

The Foxes are currently top of the table in the EFL Championship after 7 wins in their first 8 matches. They have some pieces such as Kieran Dewsbury-Hall that can make magic out of nothing if given the chance.

In defense, will Trent Alexander-Arnold get some minutes to shake off his injury rust? He could use a good 20-30 minutes if possible.

Leicester have only scored 14 goals in their 8 league matches, so they have not been super prolific this season. As a result, it could give the Liverpool defense an opportunity to build confidence and momentum for future fixtures.

As for the Reds attack, it has been nice to see in recent matches that there are a variety of different players getting in on the scoring action.

Whether it is Andy Robertson scoring the winner or Darwin Nunez smashing in winners there has been no shortage of goals for Liverpool in the early going this campaign.

They will be the stiffest test Leicester has seen to this point and the Anfield crowd should be ready to rock as usual. I believe sometimes that I get more excited for Domestic Cups than Klopp does. Hopefully he sees this as an opportunity to continue building Liverpool 2.0 against a quality opponent.

I think it’ll be another blend of youth and experience for Liverpool and that will be enough to push on to the next round. A solid but unspectacular 2-0 win is what keeps coming to mind.

Let’s hope I’m right or it could be a short stint in the Carabao Cup.