Federico Chiesa to start vs. West Ham as Arne Slot confirms rotation

Arne Slot has confirmed Federico Chiesa is ready to make his first start for Liverpool ahead of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash with West Ham.

Chiesa made two debuts for Liverpool last week, with his first-ever appearance coming against AC Milan before a maiden outing at Anfield against Bournemouth.

There were promising signs on his home debut, with the Italian firing a long-range effort on goal with his first touch of the ball, and there are high hopes for his progress.

That is expected to continue in midweek, with Slot confirming he is ready to start against West Ham in the third round of the Carabao Cup.

“I don’t think he’s able to play 90 minutes. He only played 25 now, as a maximum, in the last three, four, five months,” he told reporters at the AXA Training Centre.

“I don’t think he played any friendly for Juve as well.

“But he’s able to start, in our opinion, and if he will, let’s see. There are many options that we have, but he’s able to start in our opinion.

“But I don’t think he’s able to play 90 minutes at the level we are playing tomorrow against a strong West Ham team.”

Slot has begun to implement rotation in recent Games, with four changes for the 3-0 win over Bournemouth, and that is set to continue against West Ham.

“I want all of them to play. Unfortunately that’s no possible, because you can only name 11,” he explained.

“But we will play with the best possible team and that can sometimes also mean that other players that have played a lot are maybe a bit more tired.

“So that means, because the differences are so small, that I will select for this Game different players.

“But they will come in today and we will look at how fit they are and then I will make the decision who is going to start and who isn’t.”

Slot could potentially name a team of Caoimhin Kelleher, Conor Bradley, Joe Gomez, Jarell Quansah, Kostas Tsimikas, Wataru Endo, Tyler Morton, Curtis Jones, Chiesa, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo – which would be all 10 outfield players changed from Saturday’s win over Bournemouth.