Liverpool vs PSV - Champions League LIVE: Latest score, team news and updates as Alexander Isak is benched, Hugo Ekitike starts and there is no Alisson Becker with Arne Slot in need of a confidence-boosting win

Igor Biscan, ex-Liverpool midfielder, via Boyle Sports:

The visitors’ team news is in and Bosz goes with a strong, experienced XI at Anfield tonight. Kovar starts in goal, with Schouten captaining from midfield and Perisic adding experience on the left.

Til and Saibari both start after their strong recent form, while Man leads the line as PSV look to frustrate and counter. Dest and Salah-Eddine provide width from full-back.

No messing around from the Dutch side. They are here to compete.

Team news is in and Slot has made a few big calls for PSV at Anfield tonight. Alisson misses out , with Mamardashvili returning in goal. Ekitike starts after Isak’s struggles at the weekend, while Gravenberch, Mac Allister and Szoboszlai line up in midfield.

Van Dijk captains the Reds once more, with Konate given another chance to settle. On the bench, Gomez is available despite his knee issue, while Isak drops down among the substitutes as Liverpool look for a lift.

Liverpool are without Alisson tonight, just four days after his long awaited return. Giorgi Mamardashvili deputises again, with the absence believed to be due to illness rather than injury.

For all their domestic chaos, Liverpool have been a very different animal in the Champions League.

Slot’s side have won three of their four games in this league phase and remain perfect at Anfield in Europe, with 13 consecutive home wins. If there is any competition where they still look like champions, it is this one.

Steven Gerrard is back at Anfield tonight, with the Liverpool legend spotted around the stadium as the Reds team bus makes its final turn. Big European night, big presence. Team news shortly.

Slot is without several key names again tonight. Florian Wirtz, Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong remain sidelined with muscle injuries, while Giovanni Leoni is out long term.

Gomez is available after a knee injection but is not fully fit. That leaves Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones as emergency right-back options if required.

Liverpool are one of several heavyweights in action this evening. Arsenal host Bayern Munich at the Emirates, Paris Saint-Germain face Tottenham, while Real Madrid travel to Olympiacos.

There is also Atletico vs Inter, Frankfurt vs Atalanta and Sporting vs Club Brugge. Plenty of jeopardy across Europe as the league phase reaches crunch time.

Luis Diaz may be gone, but his absence is being felt more as this season unravels. The Colombian is flying at Bayern Munich, while Liverpool lack his intensity, pressing and direct running.

Slot no longer has that option to change games from the bench or drive his team up the pitch when heads drop and passes go sideways.

Liverpool could really do with taking Konate out of the firing line after a run of poor performances, but Slot revealed Gomez has had a knee injection and is not fully fit.

That leaves the head coach stuck between rotating a struggling defender or risking his only other senior centre-back. Another headache in an already messy situation.

Away from tonight’s action, there was some serious news coming out of Merseyside today, with Paul Doyle changing his pleas to guilty over the parade crash in May.

More than 130 people were injured when a vehicle drove into supporters during the title celebrations.

Doyle admitted 31 offences and will be sentenced next month. Liverpool issued a statement saying the day ‘ended in unimaginable circumstances’ and added: ‘We hope today’s conviction brings some peace to all those affected by the horrific incident.’

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Liverpool have won five of their seven previous European meetings with PSV, including all three at Anfield. But the Dutch side did beat a rotated Reds team 3-2 in Eindhoven last season and arrive in far sharper shape this time.

PSV’s away record in England is poor, yet this Liverpool team looks far more vulnerable.