The State of Play
Sparta Prague come into this one on the back of a goalless draw in the derby against Slavia at the weekend. Under the management of Brian Priske, Sparta are sitting at the top-of-the-table in the Czech Republic and they come into this one on the back of a five-match unbeaten run of form since losing the first-leg of their UEFA Europa League knockout playoff tie in Istanbul against Galatasaray,
Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have had a remarkable couple of weeks. First of all, his very young side edged past Chelsea in the final of the EFL Cup with a 117th minute winner from Virgil van Dijk. Then they eased into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup as an even younger side defeated Southampton by three goals to nil and then Darwin Nunez scored a controversial 99th minute winner at Nottingham Forest to keep the Reds top of the Premier League.
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Team News
Sparta Prague remain without right-back Andreas Vindheim as he is out injured for the rest of the season but Angelo Preciado, playing in the same position, is available, despite being suspended domestically.
Liverpool have several availability issues for this one with the likes of Alisson, Joel Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota remaining out injured for the Reds but Curtis Jones and Mohamed Salah could return to the squad.
Expected Line-ups
Sparta Prague: Vindahl-Jensen; Vitik, Panak, Krejci; Preciado, Kairinen, Laci, Rynes; Birmancevic, Kuchta, Haraslin
Liverpool: Kelleher; Bradley, Gomez, Quansah, Tsimikas; Elliott, Endo, Clark; Gakpo, Darwin Nunez, Danns
What they Said
Brian Priske has discussed the Sparta excitement of facing Liverpool on Thursday: “We knew that a lot of quality would come out of the hat no matter what, and Liverpool is a big challenge that we are looking forward to.”
Jurgen Klopp was drawn on the topic of Ryan Gravenberch’s fitness the other day saying “it’s a ligament injury, it could have been much worse, but it’s bad enough for him to be ruled out for this game, next game, then we will see.”
When and How to Watch
This match will be played at the epet ARENA in Prague on Thursday March 7th at 17:45 and will be shown live on TNT Sports in the UK. It can also be streamed live via the TNT Sports app.
Prediction
Sparta Prague have had huge matches in the Czech First League sandwiching this UEFA Europa League Round of 16 first-leg. They had the derby against Slavia last weekend, which they shared a goalless draw in, and also face Viktoria Plzen in a few days after this one. Liverpool have an injury ravaged and inexperienced squad but the Reds will go to the Czech capital and still look to maintain hopes of pulling off a quadruple this season. A comfortable Liverpool victory remains the likeliest outcome for this one.
