Phil Thompson expects Jurgen Klopp to field strong Liverpool side in Europa League
Thursday 18 February 2016 06:31, UK
Liverpool legend Phil Thompson expects Jurgen Klopp to field his strongest available side for their Europa League final 16 first-leg clash with Augsburg.
With Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho back in the starting XI after injuries, the Reds romped to a 6-0 victory at Aston Villa on Super Sunday and confidence is high ahead of Thursday's European game.
Klopp made 10 changes for Liverpool's FA Cup replay defeat to West Ham last week and Thompson hopes that a similar approach is not taken to the Europa League.
The Soccer Saturday pundit said: "I would like to see Liverpool go for the Europa League, but with a top-four finish looking a tall order, I also wanted to see them go for the FA Cup.
"Klopp can go with a strong team for the first leg as there's no game at the weekend, but it will be interesting to see how he prioritises the second leg, with the Capital One Cup final on the Sunday."
Thompson also believes the importance of Coutinho was underestimated as Sturridge made a scoring return at Villa Park, opening the scoring with a header.
He added: "Much of the hype was around Sturridge at Villa Park, but Coutinho was as important with that creative spark in the final third, while Roberto Firmino looks like he's got used to the Premier League now and his performances have been very good.
"The movement between the front three was terrific and they've got to be very confident right now."
