Plymouth vs Liverpool Prediction, Lineups and Odds: Federico Chiesa backed to shine

Plymouth will be dreaming of a huge upset when they host Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup. The Pilgrims sit at the bottom of the Championship table, while Liverpool are leading the Premier League, but the duo are brought together by the magic of the cup.

The Home Park contest will take place at 15:00 Sunday, February 9th, 2025 and the game will be broadcast live on ITV.

Premier League leaders Liverpool have a clear class edge on the Championship’s bottom side Plymouth when the pair meet at Home Park on Sunday afternoon and it could be a comfortable success for the Reds.

Clearly, Arne Slot may look to rotate his squad for this FA Cup fourth-round tie, but Diogo Jota, Federico Chiesa, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliot are all expected to be involved and that should be enough to down a poor Plymouth side.

The Pilgrims have shipped 63 goals in 30 Championship matches this season and those strikes have come against teams a long way below Liverpool’s level.

The Reds have hit 12 goals in their last four matches. They smashed four past Tottenham in their EFL Cup semi-final on Thursday night and this is a team who have won matches by scorelines of 6-3, 5-1, 5-0, 4-1 and 4-0 this term.

Backing over 3.5 goals, which would be boosted should Plymouth find the net, looks the best way to play what should be a comfortable success for the favourites.

Federico Chiesa would have hoped for more from his Liverpool career, but it’s tricky to break into a side containing the attacking talent of Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah.

However, the Italian was given a chance against lower-league opposition when Liverpool beat Accrington 4-0 in the third round of the FA Cup and the former Juventus man could take his chances against Plymouth.

The 27-year-old found the net against Accrington and registered six shots on goal in that contest and a repeat of that effort could see Chiesa score on more than one occasion at Home Park.

Plymouth vs Liverpool Lineups

The starting lineups for Plymouth vs Liverpool will be displayed in the graphic below once the team news has been announced.

Plymouth vs Liverpool Team News

• Kornel Szucs, Brendan Galloway and Joe Edwards are out for the home side.
• Plymouth could hand a debut to midfielder Malachi Boateng, who signed from Hearts on deadline day.
• Fellow new arrivals Nikola Katic and Maksym Taloverov are expected to continue in the Pilgrim’s defence.
• Trent Alexander-Arnold is likely to make the trip to Home Park after coming off injured against Bournemouth last weekend and missing Liverpool’s midweek EFL Cup tie with Tottenham.
• Conor Bradley is likely to deputise for the England man at right-back and there could also be a start in defence for Jarell Quansah, with Joe Gomez still carrying a knock.
• Back-up keeper Caoimhin Kelleher is likely to start in goal and there could be appearances for fringe performers Federico Chiesa, Harvey Elliot and Curtis Jones.
• Tyler Morton, who started in Liverpool’s third-round tie with Accrington, is out with a shoulder injury.