Leicester vs Liverpool LIVE: Premier League team news and updates

With Ipswich vs Arsenal at just over the hour mark, the Gunners are 2-0 up and cruising against the 10-man Tractor Boys.

Barring a total collapse, Arsenal will prevent Liverpool from officially claiming the title today as they’ll move up to ten points behind the Reds.

The big news for Liverpool is that Trent Alexander-Arnold, absent since 11 March with an ankle injury, is back on the bench.

Darwin Nunez is also on the bench after illness, while Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai swap into the starting XI, replacing Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota following their win over West Ham.

Wout Faes returns from injury as expected to start in defence, while 15-year-old midfielder Jeremy Monga also returns after injury.

Victor Kristiansen and Facundo Buonanotte, the latter unavailable to face parent club Brighton last weekend, are also both back on the bench.

Liverpool XI: Alisson, Van Dijk, Konate, Diaz, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Salah, Gakpo, Tsimikas, Gravenberch, Bradley

Substitutes: Kelleher, Endo, Nunez, Jones, Elliott, Jota, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold, Quansah

Leicester XI: Hermansen, Ricardo, Faes, Coady, Thomas, Ndidi, Soumare, El Khannouss, De Cordova-Reid, Mavididi, Vardy

Substitutes: Stolarczyk, Justin, Kristiansen, Okoli, Skipp, Buonanotte, Monga, Ayew, Daka

We’re expecting team news in the next few minutes…

The way Virgil van Dijk put it on Sunday, a saga had the feel of a formality. “Everything that embodies Liverpool that is just part of me,” he said. A man with a claim to be Liverpool’s finest ever centre-back, who is set to join their band of title-winning captains has become part of the fabric of the club to the extent that it has seemed surreal that, until a new contract was belatedly signed, they risked losing a £75m signing on a free transfer.

In theory, Van Dijk’s last act at Anfield could have been to lift the Premier League trophy before exiting, seemingly unwanted. In practice, it wasn’t going to happen. Only those with little understanding of the situation thought the defender would leave. Van Dijk didn’t. As he put it, it was “always Liverpool, it was always in my head, it was always the plan”.

Captain Virgil van Dijk was swift to follow…

Van Dijk, who joined Liverpool for a then-world record fee for a defender in 2018, had been in negotiations over a renewal, and has put pen to paper on a new two-year contract.

Liverpool have been buoyed by two of their star players re-signing with the club, with both Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk extending their stays on Merseyside for another two years.

The Independent’s Senior Football Correspondent Richard Jolly had this to say on Salah’s contract extension:

Liverpool have looked far from their imperious best in recent weeks, losing in the Champions League, League Cup final, and registering just their second league defeat this season against Fulham earlier this month, but returned to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over West Ham last time out.

Leicester lost their previous 11 Premier League games before a 2-2 draw with Brighton last weekend.

The Foxes are trying to avoid becoming the first team to lose nine home Premier League games in a row without scoring, and are already on a record eight-game home run in the top flight without finding the back of the net.