Mane and Anguissa on the bench as Liverpool host Fulham

Shina Oludare

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Mane and Anguissa on the bench as Liverpool host Fulham image

Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota will start together in attack for Liverpool in Saturday’s Premier League encounter against Fulham, whereas Sadio Mane must be content with a place on the bench.

The Senegal international has failed to find the net in the last three games as manager Jurgen Klopp is hoping to help the Reds bounce back from their defeat against the visiting Cottagers.

In a 4-3-1-2 formation, the German tactician handed Naby Keita a place in his starting XI. The Guinean will hold sway in the midfield alongside Georginio Wijnaldum and James Milner. Xherdan Shaqiri is expected to play further forward.

 

For Scott Parker’s team whose five-game unbeaten league run ended against Jose Mourinho’s Spurs, Nigerian quartet Josh Maja, Tosin Adarabioyo, Ademola Lookman and Ola Aina would be relied upon against the reigning English champions.

Gabonese midfielder Mario Lemina completes a quintet of Africans in the starting line up for the Cottagers, while Cameroon international Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa starts as a substitute. English midfielder of Nigerian descent Josh Onomah did not make the matchday cut – which means he would not be playing his sixth league game of the 2020-21 campaign.

Nigeria prospect Adarabioyo is optimistic that his side can get a result at Anfield.

“Liverpool are still the Premier League champions, so you’ve got to respect that. We’ve got to go out there and put on a show and try to get a performance,” he told Sky Sports.

“I feel like we can take a lot of confidence from that game [the reverse fixture in December]. We went out there and played our game, we had a lot of opportunities and the game could have gone either way really.

“We were winning 1-0 for quite a while in the game before the end so that can give us a lot of confidence to go to Anfield and try and get a good result.

“We know how offensive Liverpool are and what a great attack they have so it’s just trying our best to nullify them.”

Shina Oludare