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Welcome back to the Premier League, where Liverpool currently sit in 7th place, eight points off of top four. After two straight games of domestic cup play, Liverpool jump back into league action on Tuesday when they take on the league leaders, Leicester City. The last time the two teams faced each other, Liverpool won the game 1-0 thanks to a Benteke goal. At the time, Leicester were in a bit of a downswing, with neither of their two star players, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, in good form.
They're back on top to end January following their 3-0 battering of Stoke City, and they'll go into this game with a week and a half of rest while Liverpool have played a gruelling schedule of two games a week since Christmas. Hopes of Liverpool making it into the top four look extremely slim, and putting a solid run of victories together in the league now will be the only way for the Reds to even have a chance. On the other side, Leicester are coming up on a difficult run of games, and if they want to hold onto their dreams of league glory will need to get positive results against Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal in February.
Liverpool are continuing the process of reintegrating their injured players back into the side. Dejan Lovren was a welcome addition to the team on Saturday when Liverpool played out a draw against West Ham in the fourth round of the FA Cup. It's likely that Klopp will revert to his preferred center-back pairing of Lovren and Mamadou Sakho now that both are fit once again.
Playing away from home, expect to see Lucas resume his starting spot in place of Joe Allen, who donned the captain's armband at the weekend. Lucas's more defensive-minded game will be a benefit to the team as they work to fend off Leicester's attack.
Leicester are lucky enough to be playing with an almost completely fit squad. The only player who will miss out is the unfortunately named Jeff Schlupp, with a hamstring injury. As a result, and with no reason to rotate his squad, Claudio Ranieri will likely run out the same team that defeated Stoke City last Saturday.
For Liverpool:
Mignolet
Clyne/ Sakho/ Lovren/ Moreno
Henderson/ Lucas/ Can
Milner/ Firmino/ Lallana
There's the possibility that Jordan Henderson will still not be ready for action, having been rested against West Ham after coming off early in the second half of the Stoke game. Odds are, however, that if he's available, he will start. At this point, it seems to be nailed on that Firmino will act as the de facto striker in place of Christian Benteke. Which two of Adam Lallana, Jordon Ibe, and James Milner play in support is the real question, and as Lallana did quite well against Stoke City, he seems the closest to a lock of that trio.
Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Rossiter edge ever-closer to fitness. They're both only about a week away from re-entering the team. Divock Origi and Martin Skrtel are right behind them with two more weeks each on the sidelines. Daniel Sturridge remains out indefinitely, while Danny Ings and Joe Gomez remain gone for the rest of the season.
Kickoff is set for 7:45PM BST/2:45PM EST Tuesday. Television coverage will be on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra in America. Elsewhere TSN4 and RDS 2 in Canada, Fox Sports 4 and Fox Sports EPL on Demand in Australia, Star Sports 2 Asia in India, Astro SuperSport 3 in Malaysia, 102 (HD) Mio Stadium in Singapore, and SuperSport 3 Africa in Kenya are carrying the match. Sorry UK supporters, it seems this is another game that won't be airing on your televisions. You can find other listings at LiveSoccerTV. For Online radio, fans worldwide can check out LFCTV GO and TalkSport Radio World.
We'll be keeping you updated with all the buildup to the game, including team news as it's released, our live matchday thread and post-match recaps from The Liverpool Offside staff. If you want to join the discussion, sign up for an SB Nation account to have your say on all the action as it happens.