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Arne Slot clarified that Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson are being rested against Tottenham tonight.
The two full-backs have played in the vast majority of the Reds’ games in recent weeks owing to injuries to their understudies, Conor Bradley and Kostas Tsimikas.
Bradley and Tsimikas have been named in the starting line-up against Tottenham, while Jarell Quansah also comes into the defense, despite Ibrahima Konate returning from a knee injury against Manchester United on Sunday.
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Alisson starts in the League Cup for the first time this season, with Caoimhin Kelleher only among the substitutes, while Diogo Jota starts for the first time since returning from the injury he sustained in October.
Explaining his team selection on Sky Sports, Slot said: “Some players have played many minutes because others were injured. Kostas Tsimikas and Conor Bradley were injured, so Trent and Andy Robertson played almost every game. Now they are fit again so it is the ideal moment to give them some playing time.
“Ibou just came back from injury too so to play him for two games wouldn’t be a smart idea. Alisson and Jota need match rhythm after coming back from injury.”
Slot vowed that his team would give an improved performance after Sunday’s draw with Manchester United, but said he was not thinking about winning silverware yet, despite remaining in contention on all four fronts.
“Three games away from the trophy,” Slot said. “We’re more games away in the Champions League and even more games away in the Premier League, so we don’t look at it that way. We just want to play a very good game again. We didn’t play a very good game on Sunday, we played quite a good game, not a very good game, and we want to improve compared to that game, and this team has showed so many teams how well they can play. Last Sunday wasn’t our best but it wasn’t as bad as some people made it out to be, but we want to do better, because we were used to winning, and that’s not what we did last Sunday.”