Arne Slot rules elite five stars OUT of Liverpool fixture

Arne Slot wasted no time after the derby as he ruled five starting players out of the upcoming clash with Southampton. A much-changed Liverpool side in the Carabao Cup.

Liverpool saw off Everton on Saturday, just about. The Reds raced into a 2-0 lead but in keeping with the rest of the season, they gave up a goal and were up against it in the end.

The visitors were unquestionably the better team in the second half, though it did come too late. Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitiké's goals were enough to take the points.

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Now attention turns to Liverpool's next fixture and next competition. They're back in the Carabao Cup, in which Arne Slot led his side to the final last season.

They'll hope to go one better this time around, though that won't mean prioritising the competition. Slot is already willing to rule players out of that one for fitness reasons.

"I can tell you now, you won’t be seeing them on Tuesday," he said of the five players who have played 90 minutes in each of Liverpool's last five fixtures. Here's who will be missing out, then.

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Liverpool to rest five stars

Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konaté, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mo Salah have played every minute since the return from the international break. They'll now finally get a bit of a break as Liverpool host Southampton at Anfield.

And that means changes are coming. In fact, it sounds as though we'll see Joe Gomez and Giovanni Leoni at the back - though, it's possible Wataru Endo deputises at centre-back.

Curtis Jones is a certainty in the middle, with Stefan Bajcetic possibly making an appearance. That'll be the trickiest area of the pitch for Slot, in fact.

Replacing Salah is an interesting one, though. Liverpool don't actually have another right-winger in the squad and it might be that Federico Chiesa fills that spot.

A chance for certain players to really make an impact, then. Liverpool's squad depth is firmly in the spotlight with the Carabao Cup - let's see what they can do.

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