Arne Slot explains why Darwin Nunez is benched as Liverpool faces Bayer Leverkusen

Liverpool forward has only been named on the substitute's bench for the clash with Bayer Leverkusen with head coach Arne Slot .

Luis Diaz could play as the number nine with on the left and on the right. Diogo Jota and are currently sidelined with injuries and won't be back until after the upcoming international break at the earliest. Salah and Gakpo have both played centrally during their time at Anfield too.

"I don't think the intensity [vs Brighton] has so much to do with how we line up today," Slot said live on Amazon Prime. "In general, we only have four [attackers] available at the moment with Darwin, Cody, Lucho and Mo Salah.

"There is a lot of games to be played. Last week, we played with two 10s and now I chose not to play Darwin because he has played quite a lot recently and before he didn't, so it is normal to rotate in the front three and today was a good day to play Lucho."

Elsewhere in the Liverpool team, is in for . Kostas Tsimikas has retained his place at left-back ahead of . Slot has only made two changes from the win over Brighton with Diaz and Jones coming into his team. Caoimhin Kelleher is in goal with Trent Alexander-Arnold and among those who are in the team too.

Liverpool starting XI in full: Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Jones, Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Diaz, Gakpo. Subs: Jaros, Davies, Bradley, Gomez, Quansah, Robertson, Szoboszlai, Endo, Morton, Nunez.

Bayer Leverkusen starting XI in full: Hradecky; Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie; Frimpong, Xhaka, Palacios, Garcia, Grimaldo; Wirtz, Boniface. Subs: Kovar, Lomb, Hofmann, Andrich, Arthur, Schick, Tella, Onyeka.