Shrewsbury v Liverpool: FA Cup fourth round – live!

Jurgen Klopp speaks briefly to the BBC and comes pretty close to a full house in cup-tie-against-an-underdog bingo: a “tough pitch”, a “big fight”, fixture congestion and hungry youngsters all get a mention. German efficiency, there.

Meanwhile, in the Women’s FA Cup, Arsenal have gone to West Ham and come away with a thumping win. Report here:

Early evidence suggests Harvey Elliott hasn’t changed his haircut, which is a shame. Helluva talent though – and ferociously direct. Golbourne will have his work cut out at left wing-back.

After some pre-match reading? You’re in luck. Our man in the north-west sat down for a lovely chat with Shrewsbury’s Grenadian contingent. Have a gander:

Just the 11 changes for Mr Klopp, then, although that rather underplays the strength of a side that contains two seasoned centre-halves, one thrilling new arrival, perhaps the Premier League’s best all-round midfielder, and at least two spectacularly promising teenage prodigies.

As for Sam Ricketts, his wing-back Scott Golbourne has passed a late fitness test to make it into the XI and Blackburn loanee Sam Hart is on the bench ahead of a potential debut.

Shrewsbury: O’Leary; Pierre, Ebanks-Landell, Williams, Love; Norburn, Laurent, Golbourne, Whalley; Goss, Lang. Subs: Murphy, Edwards, Beckles, Walker, Udoh, Cummings, Hart.

Liverpool: Adrian, Williams, Matip, Lovren, Larouci, Fabinho, Chirivella, Jones, Minamino, Elliott, Origi. Subs: Kelleher, Keita, Firmino, Salah, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Hoever, Alexander-Arnold.

They couldn’t, could they…? As the weeks tick by and the wins stack up, the vital question hanging over Liverpool’s season is becoming less about whether they can finally get their hands on That Trophy, and more about exactly which trophies they won’t get their hands on. It’s early days, of course, but Liverpool’s relentlessness is such that you could understand a rising anxiety at Old Trafford about the prospect of their Class of ‘99 finally being equalled, or similar feelings in north London regarding their fabled Invincibles. To do both at once – a supremely distant possibility, but a possibility nonetheless – well, that would leave both those history-makers in the dust.

But first things first. Shrewsbury may be 59 places below Jürgen Klopp’s men but they’ve proven a tough nut to crack in this competition in recent seasons, taking Wolves to a replay last year and West Ham the year before that. And when Liverpool take to the field at New Meadow this afternoon, they will be up against a side they have lost just one of their last 17 FA Cup fixtures on home turf.

A nice subplot here is that the match is of special interest to a tiny sunkissed island 4,000 miles away: Shrewsbury’s trio of Aaron Pierre, Omar Beckles and Oliver Norburn all represent the national team of Grenada (population 111,000 – or 1/14th of the county of Merseyside) with another prospective international, Ro-Shaun Williams, yet to commit. So plenty will be tuning in from the Caribbean to see how the world champions fare against Shrewsbury’s Spice Boys, as the Grenadian team is affectionately known.

For Liverpool, that tag has rather different connotations: of lenient management, lax defending and chronic underachievement. That was also an era which saw the only other meeting between these clubs, a 4-0 win for Liverpool at Gay Meadow en route to the Spice Boys’ most ignominious hour. We’re a long way from all that now, though, and while another Wembley final is still some way off, should Liverpool get there this year we can be sure of one thing: they won’t be a cream suit in sight.