Premier League Pick ‘Em: Joe Gomez or Jarrell Quansah

Liverpool are headed into their biggest clash of the season to date with a slightly larger injured list than they would have liked. In their big, midweek win in the Champions League over Real Madrid, the Reds lost Ibrahima Konate and Connor Bradley in the late stages of the match. It put a slight tarnish on what was otherwise a golden day as the Reds put one more boogie team to the sword in a campaign that is starting to shape up to be a revenge tour of sorts.

While the Bradley injury is at least semi-well timed with the return of Trent Alexander-Arnold to match fitness taking place for the Madrid match, unfortunately for the Reds, Ibou’s spell on the sideline means potential starts for one of Joe Gomez and Jarrell Quansah. It’s particularly interesting for the latter as they’ve watched their stock fall rather quickly this season under Arne Slot.

With Manchester City – ailing though they may be – the defensive backline will no doubt miss the physical prowess of Konate. The bigger loss, though, is the stability and consistency along the backline. Ibou had not only seen a return to form and an ascendant widening of his on-the-ball abilities, but the entire defensive unit has managed to weather the the losses of both Alisson Becker and Trent Alexander-Arnold for various parts of the season.

Slot’s call on Sunday, then, will be one of the biggest ones yet given the lack of playing time both Gomez and Quansah have seen so far this campaign. My early pick for who makes the XI is JoeGo given that between the two he’s the one that’s seen the pitch most often.

Regardless, though, I’m comforted by the fact that both Gomez and Quansah have loads of quality and, generally, that doesn’t disappear overnight. With Trent back in the squad and the full complement of midfielders still available, I still expect the team to deliver a strong performance. And given Arsenal’s result today, they’ll need the points.