Liverpool are looking to avoid an upset against League One high-flyers Lincoln City in the third round of the 2020-21 Carabao Cup. Express Sport brings you live updates from Sincil Bank as the Premier League champions seek to book a showdown with Arsenal in the next round.

MATCH PREVIEW

Liverpool come into the back of this clash off the back of a Premier League win over Chelsea at the weekend but are expected to make a whole host of changes in Lincolnshire.

And the hosts head into this glamour tie having won all of their five competitive matches so far this season.

The Imps have beaten Crewe Alexandra and Bradford City to get this far, thrashing the Bantams 5-0 in the last stage.

Michael Appleton’s men sit third in League One with two wins from two, only behind Ipswich Town on goal difference.

And they will be keen to land a dent on Liverpool, with Appleton saying: “We’re playing the Premier League champions and it’s an opportunity to pit our wits against some of the best players in the country.

“We want to be able to showcase what we’re capable of, but you can only do that if you go into the game quite aggressively, on the front foot and trying to compete, rather than just being happy to be there and be passive.

“It’s OK saying that, but doing it is another thing. The reality is that they’re going to have a lot more possession than we are.

“As you’ve seen in the opening games, that doesn’t bother us too much because I do feel we’re a threat on the counter-attack.

“As long as they have possession in the areas we want them to have possession in, that won’t bother me too much.

“The issue is that they’ve got some seriously good players. If they start picking up the ball around the edge of our box, we’ll have problems.”

While Jurgen Klopp’s assistant Pep Lijnders admitted that the Reds are well aware of the threat their lower-league opponents will face.

He said in a press conference: “One of our main things over the last two years or longer is that we see each next game as the next final, this mentality is in our group.

“So the way we prepare Lincoln will be in the same way how we prepared, say, Chelsea over the weekend.

“We are fully prepared. We know they had a great run so far, top of the league. A counter-attacking side with speed on the wings, with technical players on the inside.

“Good set-pieces, I think they scored five goals already with that. When they play football, they properly play football, with good switches between players and good flexibility.

“So, an experienced manager, a club that over the last four years was quite successful with two promotions. So we have to be prepared – our team selection will reflect that.”

MATCH UPDATES

Please turn off adblock to access match feed