Liverpool vs Fulham LIVE: Carabao Cup semi-final team news, line-ups and more tonight

Liverpool will be without Mohamed Salah tonight, with his Egypt side facing Mozambique in their opening game on Sunday.

Here’s Karl Matchett with a good read on how Salah can add to his legacy at the Africa Cup of Nations this month.

In other news, Hull have confirmed the loan signing Liverpool youngster Fabio Carvalho until the end of the season.

The 21-year-old has made 21 appearances for Liverpool and had a temporary switch at RB Leipzig earlier this campaign where he lifted the DFL-Supercup on debut.

Carvalho, who has been capped four times at under-21 level for Portugal, lacked game-time in Germany and joins Hull after being recalled by the Premier League leaders.

Head coach Liam Rosenior told Hull’s official website: “I couldn’t be happier. Everyone is aware of Fabio’s ability, his qualities as a young player.

“Fabio is excited to be coming here and I’m delighted to be working with him to the end of the season. Technically, he’s outstanding. He can assist, score and run in behind. He’s brave, quick, very balanced and takes the ball.

“Fabio’s got the ability to make a real impact on our season and get us to where we want to be.”

Hull’s announcement video is worth watching…

Joe Gomez, who makes his 200th Liverpool appearance tonight, insists the Reds will not get giddy at the prospect of another potential quadruple tilt, but has acknowledged there is a fire in the squad to achieve this season.

“We’re all just full of desire and want to make the best out of the season,” he said. “All we can do is take it one game at a time. I know it’s a cliche, but there’s desire and we have a platform to build on.

“We can’t take that for granted, as we know with last season it’s not always plain-sailing and we went through rough patches but we built from it and learnt from it. So, we have to keep at it and see where it takes us.”

Liverpool make five changes from Sunday’s win at Arsenal. Virgil van Dijk returns to captain the side, with Conor Bradley replacing the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold at right back. Ryan Gravenberch comes into midfield and there is a start for Diogo Jota in attack as Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez drop out. As expected, Caoimhin Kelleher starts in goal ahead of Alisson.

Marco Silva also makes five changes from the weekend, and in come some of the big-hitters: Bernd Leno, Antonee Robinson, Joao Palhinha, Willian and Raul Jimenez all return to the starting line-up.

Fulham team to face Liverpool:

Leno, Castagne, Tosin, Diop, Robinson, Palhinha, Reed, Pereira, DeCordova Reid, Jimenez, Willian

Liverpool team to face Fulham:

Kelleher, Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Gomez, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones, Elliott, Jota, Diaz

We’re just a couple of minutes away from getting tonight’s line-ups. How strong will Klopp and Silva go amid a busy run of fixtures?

Marco Silva calls for Fulham to be ‘clever’ at Anfield

Marco Silva has called for his Fulham players to focus on one leg at a time ahead of their Carabao Cup semi-final clash against Liverpool.

He said: “You’re talking about two games. But, at the same time, you cannot be thinking about the second game if you don’t do so well in the first. This is where you have to have the right balance.

“I don’t want the players just thinking about the second game, because if we don’t do our job really well in the first one, probably the chances to be decisive at home are not going to be there.

“Because of that, we have to play really at our best level there, and be clever enough from a tactical point of view in some moments to manage the game well.”

How will Liverpool cope without Alexander-Arnold?

“We have many weapons so there is no-one irreplaceable here,” said Liverpool’s assistant manager Pep Lijnders.

“Mo goes away, (Diogo) Jota steps up. If the best players are not there and you play really well – the second half against Arsenal – then that’s a really good sign and that’s what we’ve always done.

“We don’t rely on one, two, three or four players. We are missing three core players from our leadership group – Robbo, Trent, Mo – so that’s a blow of course.

“We now we have to find solutions without Trent as well but, again, this squad has so much talent, so much power, and as long as counter-pressing is there everything else is replaceable.

“He {Alexander-Arnold] creates a lot of flexibility from the back and he can play passes that the forwards really like, he knows how to decide games and knows when to put balls where.

“The squad has a lot of other qualities in my opinion but for sure we need to find new dynamics.”

More on tonight’s team news

Trent Alexander-Arnold has been ruled out for three weeks with a knee injury that means he will miss both legs of Liverpool’s Carabao Cup semi-final.

The right-back, who has shone for the Reds in recent weeks, sustained the injury during his starring role in Sunday’s 2-0 FA Cup win at Arsenal, faces a race against time to be fit for the Premier League clashes against Chelsea and Arsenal over five days at the end of January and the start of February.

But while Liverpool have lost their vice-captain, captain Virgil van Dijk is set to return for Wednesday’s first leg against Fulham after missing the victory at Arsenal with illness.