15′ Neco Williams lays the ball off to his left for Elliott, but the Englishman’s attempted throughball for Minamino from the edge of the box goes behind for a goal-kick.
13′ Klopp’s side have enjoyed 76 per cent of the possession thus far.
11′ It has been all Liverpool so far in the match. Lincoln are content to sit deep in looking to frustrate their visitors, but the Reds are working the ball around neatly in their efforts to extend their lead.
9′ GOAL! What a strike from Shaqiri! The Swiss winger lines up the resulting free-kick and powerfully bends it over the wall and into the top-right corner from the edge of the box. Palmer had no chance with that effort. 1-0.
8′ Jones spins away from Melbourne just inside from the left flank and wins a free-kick on the edge of the hosts’ penalty area after being clipped by the full-back. Shaqiri will take it…
7′ Bridcutt is impeded from behind by Shaqiri and Lincoln are awarded a free-kick deep inside their own half.
6′ Tsimikas plays a clever one-two with Shaqiri down the left-hand side of field before seeing his cross collected in the middle of the penalty area by Palmer.
5′ Jones tries his luck from range after some neat link-up play in the centre of the park, although his effort deflects kindly into Palmer’s gloves.
3′ Neco Williams creates a yard of space to send a cross into the box from the right. Palmer watches it all the way and comfortably claims the looping delivery.
1′ Shaqiri looks to loft a throughball beyond the hosts’ defence for Minamino to chase, but his pass is overhit and runs out for a goal-kick.
1′ Kick off! The referee, Tony Harrington, blows his whistle and Liverpool get the game underway.
The teams are out, and kick-off will soon be upon us here at LNER Stadium.
This is the first competitive meeting between Liverpool and Lincoln since the 1960-61 season, when the Reds won home and away against the Imps.
Coming into this game against the reigning Premier League champions, Appleton’s side have yet to taste defeat in any of their opening five matches across all competitions thus far this season. In their previous two EFL Cup ties, the Imps have scored seven goals, while only conceding one. Liverpool, on the other hand, are also undefeated heading into this match. Interestingly, the Reds have progressed from 15 of their last 16 ties in this competition against sides from a lower division, with the exception being a shootout defeat to Northampton in the third round back in 2010-11.
Michael Appleton makes only four changes for this clash with the Premier League champions as Jackson, Roughan, McGrandles and Hopper drop to the bench. In their place, Bradley, Melbourne, Edun and Scully all start. The visitors, meanwhile, make 10 alterations from their previous match. Adrian, Neco Williams, Rhys Williams, Tsimikas, Grujic, Jones, Elliott, Minamino, Shaqiri and Origi all come into the side in place of Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Andrew Robertson, Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Keita, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino. While Tsimikas makes his debut against Lincoln, Jota will have to wait to make his first Liverpool appearance having been named amongst the substitutes. Thiago, however, hasn’t been included in the squad.
LIVERPOOL SUBS: Caoimhin Kelleher, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Sepp van den Berg, Fabinho, Naby Keita, Harry Wilson, Diogo Jota.
LINCOLN SUBS: Ethan Ross, Adam Jackson, Sean Roughan, Conor McGrandles, Theo Archibald, Ramirez Howarth, Tom Hopper.
LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Adrian; Neco Williams, Rhys Williams, Virgil van Dijk, Kostas Tsimikas; Marko Grujic, Curtis Jones; Harvey Elliott, Takumi Minamino, Xherdan Shaqiri; Divock Origi.
LINCOLN (4-3-3): Alex Palmer; Alex Bradley, Timothy Eyoma, Lewis Montsma, Max Melbourne; Liam Bridcutt, Adetayo Edun, James Jones; Jorge Grant, Harry Anderson, Anthony Scully.
Having beaten Bradford City 5-0 in the second round, the home side come into this game looking to continue their impressive form following their victory over MK Dons in their last league outing. Liverpool, meanwhile, will be full of confidence after their 2-0 win against Chelsea in their most recent Premier League fixture.
Hello and welcome to live match coverage of the EFL Cup third-round fixture between Lincoln City and Liverpool at LNER Stadium.
X. Shaqiri
Goal