Leeds ‘could fear the worst’ when facing Liverpool, says Farke

Daniel Farke believes his Leeds United side “could fear the worst” when facing the attacking talent of Liverpool at Anfield.

Leeds travel to Merseyside on New Year’s Day, looking to extend their unbeaten run in the Premier League to six games.

The second match of that run was a 3-3 draw against the Reds at Elland Road, with Leeds coming back from behind on two occasions to snatch a point at home.

Liverpool will be without Mohamed Salah, who is away on international duty, and the injured Alexander Isak for this fixture, but Farke believes their attack has more than enough quality to deal with the absences.

“No, I don’t think so,” said Farke when asked if this was a good time to face Liverpool.

“Because when I have a look at the squad and who is playing in the offensive positions, you could fear the worst.

“They have [Hugo] Ekitike. I know him also from Germany and it’s an impressive start to life at Liverpool, in red hot form.

“Florian Wirtz is a player of unbelievable potential. I think just he alone cost more money that we spent in the whole summer for all of our signings.

“We don’t have to speak about all the other options who are there for the offence. Sometimes it's even beneficial when you don’t have too many options and too many competitions for the confidence of the offensive players.

Liverpool have won four consecutive matches in all competitions since that draw to Leeds earlier in December, while they are unbeaten in their last seven games overall.

Arne Slot’s side are currently fourth in the Premier League, and could move within four points of third-place Aston Villa with a win over Leeds.

However, Conor Bradley is wary of the task at hand, especially after their frantic draw at Elland Road.

“Leeds are a really good team – we found that out a few weeks ago when we went to Elland Road,” Bradley told the club website.

“We know it's going to be a difficult game but we're really looking forward to it.

“I think we've had some really good results recently, but I think the performances can definitely still get better.

“That's something we've got to strive to do, and hopefully we can do that in the upcoming games.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Liverpool – Florian Wirtz

Having failed to score or assist a goal in any of his first 15 Premier League appearances, Wirtz has now scored (one) or assisted (one) in his last two.

He last registered a goal involvement in more consecutive league games in November-December last year (a run of six with Bayer Leverkusen).

Leeds United – Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Only Erling Haaland (19), Igor Thiago (11) and Antoine Semenyo (nine) have scored more goals in the English top-flight this season than Calvert-Lewin (eight).

The 28-year-old has scored seven goals in his last six league games, including a penalty in the reverse fixture against Liverpool at Elland Road.