Europa League: Salah and Nunez missing in Liverpool v Union St Gilloise lineup

Mohammed Salah and Nunez are said to be missing in Liverpool Europa League squad. The pairs absence is due to fatigue. However, this could hunt Liverpool who are in a quest to win the trophy.

After a controversial Premier League loss to Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool must refocus and divert their attention to the Europa League when they host Union Saint-Gilloise on Thursday night.

Liverpool were handed their first defeat of the season last weekend after losing 2-1 at Tottenham in the Premier League. But VAR controversy overshadowed the final result with Luis Diaz incorrectly having a goal disallowed after a significant human error occurred. The Reds were also reduced to nine men as Diogo Jota and Curtis Jones were sent off.

Both Jones and Jota will be available on Thursday night, though, with Liverpool welcoming the Belgian top-flight leaders to Anfield.

Jurgen Klopp’s side currently sit top of Group E after a 3-1 win over LASK in their opening game of the campaign and will be looking to make it two triumphs on the trot against Union.

We simulated Liverpool vs Union Saint-Gilloise to get a score prediction

To complete this simulation, we used EA FC 24 and updated the squads with the latest injuries and suspensions.

We predict that Liverpool could line up in a 4-3-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Endo, Jones, Gravenberch; Doak, Nunez, Jota.

We predict that the visitors could set up in a 3-4-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: Moris; Mac Allister, Burgess, Leysen; Castro-Montes, Sadiki, Vanhoutte, Lapoussin; Amani, Nilsson, Puertas.

Liverpool suffered an early scare when a loose back pass from Kostas Tsimikas played Cameron Puertas through on goal, but after rounding Caoimhin Kelleher, captain Virgil van Dijk did brilliantly to block the shot on the line with a sliding clearance. And just moments later, the Reds went down the other end to take the lead.

Van Dijk sprayed a pass out the Ben Doak on the right and the winger picked out the run of Darwin Nunez with an early cross toward the box. After a touch out of his feet, the striker’s shot was originally saved, but fortunately for Nunez, the ball fell back to him and he tucked the rebound into the net from a tight angle.

Doak came close to making it 2-0 just before the break when a one-two with Nunez sent the youngster through but his curling effort could only strike the post as his wait for his first competitive goal continued. Liverpool made changes in the second half as they searched for a second and Diaz managed to double the lead minutes after being introduced to confirm the three points for the home side.

Jones won the ball back on the halfway line with a well-timed sliding challenge and then laid the ball off to Harvey Elliott, who lifted a pass over the top of the defence for Diaz to chase. A heavy touch from the Colombian invited the Union goalkeeper to rush off his line, but Diaz was quick enough to beat him to the ball and fire home.

Five things spotted from Liverpool’s open training session on Wednesday ahead of their Europa League clash with Union Saint-Gilloise at Anfield.

Liverpool have continued preparations for their first Europa League game at Anfield since 2016 against Union Saint-Gilloise.

Alexander Blessin’s Union side will be looking to cause an upset on Merseyside, following on from the trend they set in last season’s competition where they finished as group winners before knocking out Ajax and Union Berlin prior to their exit at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen.

The build-up to what will be Liverpool’s second Europa League group stage match has been dominated by the fallout from their controversial 2-1 Premier League defeat at Tottenham Hotspur. The audio from the VAR mistake that saw Luis Diaz’s goal incorrectly chalked off was released on Tuesday but on Wednesday, before the Reds held an opening training session to the media, talk about what happened in North London dominated the press conference conducted by Jurgen Klopp and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

However, the Reds boss and vice-captain were keen to heap importance on the visit of the Brussels club. Klopp’s side will be looking to make it six points from six in Group E following their 3-1 win at LASK.

And here are five things we spotted from open training…

Nunez knee troubles

During the open training session on Wednesday, there was a visible strapping around the right knee of striker Darwin Nunez. The Uruguayan was a notable absentee from Klopp’s starting XI against Tottenham.

The Liverpool boss admitted that Nunez missed out on making the line-up after his knee problem picked up during the international break continued. How much of a concern the issue is remains to be seen but whatever it is, the Uruguayan is showing that it isn’t hampering him too much.

Nunez has been impressive in form for the Reds and is staking a claim to be a regular starter following a sometimes difficult debut season at Anfield. With Brighton & Hove Albion and another round of international fixtures with Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay fast approaching, it’ll be interesting and also important to see how he is managed in the bid to avoid further damage to his knee.

Midfielders missing

There were two notable absentees from the open training session.

Thiago Alcantara was missing as he continues his recovery from hip surgery. The midfielder, who has not featured since the 2-1 win over West Ham United in April, suffered a setback in his rehabilitation last month. However, in the build-up to Liverpool’s recent Carabao Cup third-round victory over Leicester City, assistant manager Pep Ljinders confirmed that the healing process is “going well.”

A player who made their return in the victory over LASK was Stefan Bajcetic. However, he has been unavailable since his cameo in the win over Leicester after he too suffered a setback.

Red-card duo involved

Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota form a selection dilemma for Klopp going into the final two fixtures before the international break.

Cody Gakpo is out until mid-October, at least, with Jota joining him on the sidelines for the trip to the AMEX Stadium on Sunday. The Portuguese will serve a one-match suspension against Brighton after his red card for a second bookable offence against Spurs.

Jones, meanwhile, will be desperate to get onto the pitch against Union. He is facing up to a three-game domestic man after he was sent off on Saturday.

With the Liverpudlian missing top-flight outings against Brighton, Everton and Nottingham Forest, he will be in need of competitive minutes.

Three youngsters involved

The wait for Bobby Clark’s bow in the Europa League continues. The midfielder has been one of the key members of Barry Lewtas’ Under-21s side after enjoying pre-season with the first team. But he was absent from the open training session.

His former youth team-mates Jarell Quansah and Ben Doak have enjoyed playing time in the Europa League and Carabao Cup already this season and both were involved in Wednesday’s session, along with Luke Chambers, who was wearing a training top numbered 24 .