English 
Can Liverpool field a starting line-up where they are no longer in contention for the EL?
The Reds can now look forward to the final round as group leaders, with Jürgen Klopp likely to arrive in Belgium with a B team.
Liverpool are now out of the running in Group E of the Europa League as they travel to Royal Union at home as group leaders, while the Belgians would need a win and help from Linz to progress. The bookmakers have the Belgians as favourites, here’s what the bookmakers see for the 90 minutes.
December is all about football in England, with virtually every top team having two games a week for the whole month, and Liverpool are no exception. The Reds are not in the form of their lives, but the results are coming in nicely, and Jürgen Klopp’s side have leapt to the top of the Premier League. Dominik Szoboszlai’s side face Manchester United in a weekend clash, prompting the German manager to rest his squad heavily on Thursday. Mac Allister is not among the travellers due to injury, while Szalah, Van Dijk, Alisson and Alexander-Arnold are rested.
All of this suggests how important these 90 minutes are for Klopp, but the question is whether Pool can put up a weak enough performance to explain the difference in odds, as the travelling squad includes everyone else, including the Hungarian captain.
Liverpool’s expected starting XI: Kelleher; Bradley, Quansah, Konate, Gomez; Elliott, Jones, Gravenberch; Doak, Gakpo, Diaz
This would mean a practically complete rotation of the starting line-up, but of course Klopp can rotate his best players in other ways, but it is almost certain that whoever plays this weekend will get a maximum of 45-60 minutes on Thursday.
Royal Union are leading the Belgian league and are in improving form, despite only scoring three goals in five games in the EL, but they have five points in the bag. A brace is not enough to get last year’s surprise team through, luck would also be needed, but let there be no doubt that they will have the motivation to win this encounter and victory is the aim for Blessin’s side.
What is worth betting on?
Punters are banging Union’s odds down, but are the Belgian leaders really favourites against Liverpool B? It’s very difficult to judge the real balance of power, but the Belgians are certainly ahead in terms of motivation, which makes us want to take more angles with the home side.
At Anfield Road, the Belgians have taken 11 (!) corner kicks, and we believe they can outdo the Reds on home soil in this department. The Royal are among the best in the domestic league in this metric, and Liverpool are unlikely to dominate the encounter, although they could surprise the home side with good positional play. We’re taking the corner kicks at +0, so if the corner kicks tally is even at the end, we’ll get our bets back.
