Rotation, Risk and Isak: How Iraola Set His Liverpool XI For Chelsea
Carabao Cup nights used to be where Liverpool experimented without much consequence. Under Andoni Iraola that calculation has shifted. This Liverpool side is winning matches and building real momentum, and our take is that the manager now faces a trickier problem: how much of that form can he afford to risk by resting key men against a Chelsea side that will happily punish a weakened eleven.
Why the Brighton win complicates things
The 2-0 win over Brighton banked three points, but it also took something out of the squad physically, and we think that matters more than the result itself heading into a midweek cup tie. Selection for games like this is rarely about rewarding whoever played last. It is about reading fatigue, injury risk and what the fixture list demands next. Iraola showed in the previous round that he is comfortable blooding youth, with Lewis Koumas, Rio Ngumoha, Trey Nyoni and James McConnell all starting in the win over Tottenham Hotspur, backed up by senior players asked to steady things. Against Chelsea, we expect that balance to tip back slightly towards experience.
The Wirtz call, and why Isak barely needs one
Florian Wirtz is reportedly available again after his knock against Brighton, but there is little reason for Iraola to rush him back into a cup tie in October when Dominik Szoboszlai and Victor Munoz are already missing from the creative areas. Where there is no real debate, in our eyes, is around Alexander Isak. Six goals in seven Premier League games is the kind of form no manager talks himself out of, cup rotation or not, and we would be surprised to see him left out entirely even if his minutes are managed carefully.
The back four picks itself, almost
Liverpool’s issues at right-back have not gone away. With Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley both unavailable, Joe Gomez and Ronald Araujo remain the only realistic options there, and we suspect Iraola will lean toward whichever gives him more defensive solidity against a Chelsea attack with genuine pace. Milos Kerkez continues to look like the long-term answer at left-back, while Virgil van Dijk and Jeremy Jacquet have quietly formed a partnership that looks more settled with every week. Giorgi Mamardashvili should continue his run in goal for the competition.
Our predicted XI
Based on everything above, we expect something close to Mamardashvili, Araujo, Jacquet, Van Dijk, Kerkez, Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Ngumoha, Nyoni, Barcola and Isak, with Wirtz and Szoboszlai held back for the weekend. Bradley, Frimpong, Szoboszlai, Ekitike and Munoz are all out through injury. Kick-off against Chelsea is 8pm on Wednesday at Anfield, and for us this is as much a test of squad depth as it is of the starting eleven.