Cody Gakpo drops early Liverpool team news hint for Aston Villa amid major Arne Slot call

Liverpool will be hoping to continue their impressive start to the Premier League season with Aston Villa the visitors to Anfield on Saturday evening (8pm). Arne Slot's side currently sit top of the table on 25 points - while they also boast a 100 per cent winning record in the revamped Champions League.

The Reds' latest European victory came earlier this week against Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen with a thrilling second-half display seeing Luis Diaz grab a hat-trick and Cody Gakpo net his sixth goal of the season. With Diogo Jota, Federico Chiesa and Harvey Elliot still injured, Slot trialled a new-look front three.

Gakpo and Diaz have shared minutes off the left with Jota and Darwin Nunez deployed centrally while Mohamed Salah is on the opposite flank. However, against Leverkusen, both Diaz and Gakpo started the game with the latter in his usual position and the Colombian through the middle.

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As shown by their four-goal haul, the tactical change by Slot worked wonders with the Liverpool head coach explaining it was implemented because of their opponents. "I only have four attackers available with injuries to Chiesa and Jota," he said.

"Darwin, with this fixture list, impossible to play them all. [Jonathan] Tah is one of best defenders in Germany and likes to play against target man, so we played Lucho [Diaz] there. If we have injuries like we have at the moment then we can play Lucho as a nine again. Last season more Cody as a nine, and Lucho as 11, so that's also an option."

Following that admission, Slot could easily revert back to starting Nunez - especially after the problems Dominic Solanke caused Villa in their 4-1 loss last weekend. A major decision would then need to be made between Gakpo and Diaz with both deserving to play.

Managing minutes will be key going forward and, as Gakpo was brought off in the week, while Diaz remained on, that is perhaps a subtle hint from Slot. Gakpo himself has furthered those prospects of starting on social media by posting an Instagram story promoting the Villa game, an action often done by a player set for a prominent role.

As for some other major calls awaiting Slot, he must decide between Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas at left-back. Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai will also be battling it out for the final midfield spot alongside Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch.