MARCO SILVA has called for his Fulham players to focus on one leg at a time ahead of their League Cup semi-final clash against Liverpool on Wednesday night.
Wembley hopefuls Fulham visit Merseyside just one month since their dramatic 4-3 Premier League defeat to Jurgen Klopp’s men at Anfield. The second leg of the tie will be played at Craven Cottage on January 24.
Fulham boss Silva wants his players to be “clever” when they face the Premier League leaders tomorrow.
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.”
Liverpool, who are unbeaten at home this season, remain in both cup competitions after Sunday’s 2-0 win over title rivals Arsenal in the FA Cup.
Silva talked up their strengths and the challenges of playing away at Anfield.
“Of course, game management is going to be really important during the next match against them at Anfield,” he added. “You know how Liverpool normally play at home, they are normally on the front foot, their home form has been brilliant this season.
“We have to understand the game to play there. At the same time, do it in the right balance, because we have a chance to have a second game at home to decide something.”
Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders confirmed today that Trent Alexander-Arnold will be sidelined for several weeks with a knee injury.
Alexander-Arnold suffered the injury during Sunday’s 2-0 FA Cup victory over Arsenal at Ashburton Grove.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s fixture, Lijnders said: “First of all, some not-that-good news, Trent hyper-extended his knee during the last game.
“So he has a little tear in the lateral ligament of his knee and he will need time to recover. He had a scan and he will be out for a few weeks, so let’s see after that.
“He will get some rest and then hopefully he can come back to where he was. Because this guy was decisive in all the games and was the one who created constantly for us from deep and gave the team a high level of flexibility.
“We will really miss him.”
Lijnders also revealed that Virgil van Dijk is available again after missing the Arsenal game due to illness, but Dominik Szoboszlai remains sidelined.
