Arne Slot has all but confirmed Alexander Isak will make a second consecutive start as Liverpool head to Crystal Palace, with Federico Chiesa then in line to replace him.
Isak’s minutes have been carefully managed since his £125 million move from Newcastle on deadline day, having not trained or played as part of a team since the end of May.
So far the No. 9 has clocked 126 minutes on the pitch over three appearances: 23 minutes on his debut against Everton, 58 minutes on his first start against Atletico Madrid and then 45 minutes against Southampton on Tuesday.
With Hugo Ekitike suspended and Chiesa playing his first full 90 minutes since February in midweek, Isak is poised to make back-to-back starts in Liverpool’s trip to Palace.
“He’s able to play minutes again,” Slot told reporters on Friday.
“I still feel 90 is [too much]. It depends also on the pace and intensity of the game, but that might be a bit too much.
“Not only that, but also for the long term. You can give a player maybe one – I would call stupid – hit, to bring him to 90, then you brought him too far over the line.
“So I don’t think it’s smart to play him for 90 yet, but he’s further into his pre-season now.
“Normally after two or three weeks in pre-season players go to 60, 70 minutes and at some clubs they even bring them to 90, but if you look at our pre-season we mainly bring them to 60, 70 minutes then.”
The expectation therefore is that Isak will start before Chiesa comes off the bench for the final 20 or 30 minutes, with Slot and his medical staff making a decision based on the Swede’s workload during the game.
Chiesa is “showing himself”
“The positive thing is that Federico Chiesa is showing himself at the moment,” the head coach reflected on his options without the suspended Ekitike.
“So it’s also a chance for him now to be on the bench and maybe get minutes with Hugo not being there.”
Liverpool have other options for the centre-forward role, including youngster Jayden Danns, but he is more likely to be involved when the U21s head to Ipswich earlier on Saturday.
The likes of Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai and Florian Wirtz can fill in as No. 9s but are expected to start in other roles and are significantly less effective up front.
Ekitike is only set to miss one game following his red card for two bookable offences on Tuesday, meaning he should then take over from Isak away to Galatasaray next week.