Lewis Steele: Liverpool ace ‘should be back in contention’ to face Brighton on Saturday

Liverpool were without a few first-team players for a variety of reasons against Inter Milan on Tuesday night, but one of the absentees is expected to be available for the weekend clash against Brighton.

Three senior forwards didn’t make the trip to Italy, with Mo Salah omitted after his infamous public comments after the Leeds game, Cody Gakpo picking up an injury and Federico Chiesa laid low due to illness.

The dearth of attackers prompted Arne Slot to deploy a 4-4-2 diamond formation which was well received by the squad, although there may be a bit more scope available to the head coach for Saturday’s fixture against the Seagulls.

Chiesa in line to return for Liverpool on Saturday

In his latest Liverpool Confidential roundup for Mail Sport, Lewis Steele reported that Chiesa ‘should be back in contention’ to face Brighton at the weekend.

The Italian forward was seemingly on the cusp of flying out to Milan on the day of the match (the main group travelled on Monday), but he wasn’t well enough to make the journey.

History suggests Chiesa won’t start on Saturday

Like any elite-level head coach/manager, Slot isn’t one to base his team selections on the tidal wave of fan opinion, but if he were to start Chiesa on Saturday with other forwards unavailable, it’d be one of his most popular calls among the fan base.

The 28-year-old has been mostly reliant on substitute appearances since joining from Juventus in August 2024, but his personable demeanour and demonstrably wholehearted attitude on the pitch has made him a darling of the Kop.

He went up even further in supporters’ estimations last week when tracking back to make a heroic block to deny Sunderland’s Wilson Isidor what would’ve been a stoppage-time winner at Anfield, a contribution every bit as valuable as scoring at the other end.

Alas, history suggests that, even if Chiesa is available to face Brighton (against whom he’s made his only Premier League start so far), he’ll probably have to make do once more with trying to have a positive impact off the bench.

Nonetheless, even having him back in the squad for Saturday would be a plus, especially after Slot named only eight of the permissible 12 substitutes at the San Siro. He’s a player to be cherished and not ignored.

You can watch Slot’s full post-Inter Milan press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:

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