Fulham vs Liverpool Prediction & Betting Tips - Carabao Cup

Fulham will definitely be without three players for the second leg as Calvin Bassey, Fode Ballo-Toure and Alex Iwobi are all away on international duty for their countries at the African Cup of Nations. Adama Traore, who has made only four starts since his move from Wolves in the summer, is close to a return to fitness, but is still not certain to feature as he continues to make his recovery from a hamstring injury. Other than that Marco Silva has a fully fit squad to select from including Joao Palhinha, the outstanding Portuguese midfielder whose impressive performances have drawn the attention of teams such as Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Manchester United. Willian, who also scored in the first leg at Anfield, is another whose performance will be key to Fulham's chances of victory.

Jurgen Klopp has had mixed news on the injury front. Long-term absentees Joel Matip, Stefan Bajcetic and Thiago remain out, but full backs Konstantinos Tsimikas and Trent Alexander-Arnold should be fit to return at the end of January/early February. Dominik Szoboszlai and Andy Robertson may well be in contention to play some role against Fulham after recovering from injuries, but Wataru Endo remains on international duty at the Asian Cup and Curtis Jones is in doubt after being taken off as a precaution in the weekend win over Bournemouth. Mo Salah has returned to England from the African Cup of Nations after sustaining a thigh injury in Egypt's draw with Ghana. The injury is not thought to be too serious but Salah is still expected to be out for a month. However, with Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez in good goalscoring form at the weekend, the Reds may not miss their Egyptian superstar quite as much as first feared.

What will be interesting will be to see how Liverpool cope with Caoiminh Kelleher in goal. The Irishman has featured in all Carabao Cup games for the Reds in recent years, barring injury, but conceded three against Fulham in the league (in a 4-3 Liverpool win at Anfield) and one against them in the first leg of the semi final. The Reds defence has hardly been watertight this season, although it has improved of late. The first goal in this game could be crucial but with Jota and Nunez both scoring braces at the weekend, if Liverpool can get it, that will take the pressure off their stand-in 'keeper.