While both teams have done enough to secure a Europa League berth at worst, Liverpool and Spartak Moscow will be hoping for much much more when this clash gets underway on Wednesday evening. The English side will reach the knockout stages of the Champions League with a draw, while a win will guarantee they finish in first place and the visitors must secure all three points if they wish to advance themselves.
Liverpool will, as usual, deploy Jurgen Klopp’s favoured 4-3-3 formation. Working at the highest possible tempo, they will look to capitalise on Anfield’s vaunted reputation on such nights and use their incredible pace on the counter attack when possible. The play of their front line has won them many admirers this term, with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah delivering almost every time they step on the field.
Spartak are an equally direct side, with their manager Massimo Carrera – a former assistant of Chelsea boss Antonio Conte – using a variety of formations depending on their opponents in a given clash. He has used no fewer than four different systems in their five Champions League outings, but the Italian is likely to use the same 5-4-1 defensive approach that helped the Russian champions secure a 1-1 draw in the last meeting of these two teams back in September.
Both teams will be concerned by the fragility they have shown in defending set pieces this term, neither faring well in the air at corners or free kicks throughout 2017/18. The fact both teams look to play on the counter could lead to an interesting stalemate in that regard, with Liverpool’s overall higher quality of player perhaps likely to make the difference.
However, Klopp will be forced to deal with a growing number of injury problems. Backup goalkeepers Danny Ward and Adam Bogdan are both still missing, joined in the treatment room by first-choice right-back Nathaniel Clyne and central defender Joel Matip. Yet there is some good news for the home side, with versatile defender Joe Gomez expected to recover from the illness that sidelined him at the weekend.
That means they should avoid a repeat of using two midfielders in the backline – as they did in their match against Brighton – and help improve their shaky rearguard. For the visitors, Coach Massimo Carrera will be without midfielders Artem Timofeev and Jano Ananidze, while their left flank has been decimated by injuries to both Georgi Tigiev and Dmitri Kombarov
Those absentees will be a problem Salah will almost certainly look to exploit which, in his current form, does not bode well for Spartak. The Russian side have failed to register a win in any of their previous three meetings against Liverpool, but will look to key man Quincy Promes to make a difference.
Probable Lineups
Liverpool (4-3-3): Karius; Gomez, Lovren, Klavan, Moreno; Henderson, Can, Coutinho; Salah, Firmino, Mane
Shakhtar Donetsk (4-4-2): Selikhov; Petkovic, Tasic, Kutepov, Bocchetti; Fernando, Pasalic, Popov, Promes; Ze Luis, Luiz Adriano
