Ryan Gravenberch prompts Liverpool midfield rethink as Arne Slot faces fresh Diogo Jota dilemma

A look at how Liverpool could line up when they are entertained by West Ham United on Sunday

The busy festive period of Premier League football sees Liverpool once more in action when they travel to West Ham United on Sunday. At the London Stadium they will look to further an unbeaten record that now stands at 22 games.

The typically hectic Christmas schedule is closed out by a trip to the London Stadium for what is the final game of an eventful and at times emotional 2024 that has seen the Reds undergo a major transition at both executive and coaching level.

Performances have not dipped as a result of the managerial change, however, and Arne Slot has his players in rude health as the visit to West Ham looms. But how exactly will the Liverpool boss shuffle his pack for their eighth and final fixture of a fruitful December?

Alisson Becker, of course, will keep his place in goal but the game will come too early for Ibrahima Konate to be reconsidered at centre-back, despite the Frenchman appearing at Anfield on Boxing Day after a month out with a knee injury picked up in the closing stages against Real Madrid.

Joe Gomez is expected to continue deputising alongside captain Virgil van Dijk, although the decision at left-back is less straightforward. Does Slot opt for a Kostas Tsimikas comeback? Andy Robertson has started the last nine games so this feels like a good one for Greek international Tsimikas to return.

It's in midfield where the changes will be forced upon Slot given the suspension to Dominik Szoboszlai. "That is what you saw [against Leicester] because I think Dominik Szoboszlai was outstanding against Tottenham Hotspur and the idea and the plan was that he should be outstanding against West Ham but he is not available so someone else should be outstanding against West Ham instead," Slot said.

After his goal-scoring exploits against Leicester City, Curtis Jones is the ideal player to deputise for Hungary captain Szoboszlai, although this might be an opportunity for Harvey Elliott to get his first Premier League start of the season. The midfielder looked primed to rival Szoboszlai for the No.10 position in Liverpool's midfield back in pre-season but a foot injury in September while on England Under-21 duty has harmed those hopes. This feels like a good chance for Elliott, but Jones is still winning this particular race as things stand.

Wataru Endo is yet to start a Premier League game so far for Slot but has been rock solid when called upon as a late substitute or in the Carabao Cup, where he has kicked off all three victories against West Ham, Brighton and Southampton. Might this be an ideal time to give the Japan captain some minutes to rest one of either Ryan Gravenberch or Alexis Mac Allister?

The former's substitution in the win over Leicester was just the second time he hasn't completed 90 minutes and while Gravenberch has perhaps been the form player of the campaign, we are only at the halfway stage, so some protection may be no bad thing. Only five other Premier League midfielders have played more than the former Bayern Munich man's 1,503 minutes so far, so a rest will be needed at some stage.

Up top, Mohamed Salah seems a cert to start as he hares after the 20-goal total for the campaign once more. The Egyptian's sublime finish to make it 3-1 against Leicester was his 19th of what has been an extraordinary campaign so far. Federico Chiesa is fit again but seems unlikely to get the nod in London.

The major question for Slot regarding his frontline is what to do with Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez. The latter started the game against Leicester but was the most subdued of the front three, while Jota has yet to start since his recent return from a two-month lay-off. The Portugal international has been named in the last four match-day squads and has featured off the bench in each one, with Slot stating on Thursday night that his return was being carefully executed.

"We are still managing his fitness. He has been out for quite a long time and couldn't train that much," Slot said. "Sometimes, if a player has an injury, he can do a lot but he couldn't do a lot for quite a long time. Since this league is so intense, it's not so easy with two months out to come and play from the start again."

Having taken the cautious approach to Jota's return into the first-team fold, might this finally be the No.20's first start since October 20 when he picked up that problem against Chelsea? It's one for Slot to wrestle with.

There is also the option of naming Luis Diaz as the centre-forward after his two-goal showing in the 6-3 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur last week. The tactical tweak looked like the wildcard option before the 4-0 hammering of Bayer Leverkusen in November but then the Colombia winger scored a hat-trick against the Bundesliga champions and suddenly Diaz looks like a real option through the middle.

Does Diaz return on the left side, though? Cody Gakpo has eight goals in his last 12 and is in the form of his two-year Reds career just now but with so much football still to be played, there could be some rotation on the left wing. As ever, it is decisions, decisions for Slot and the juggling of his resources could make all the difference.