Liverpool turn their attention to the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night as they host Chelsea in the fourth round of the competition at Anfield.Two iconic former Reds in Xabi Alonso and Jordan Henderson return to L4 with the west London side, with the Spaniard occupying the away dugout for the third season in a row with a third different club after visiting with Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid in the past two years.While Andoni Iraola has said he will rotate his starting XI amid a hectic period of nine matches in 29 days, and with one eye on the Premier League showdown against Arsenal on Sunday, the Basque has also stated his desire to try and win this trophy in his first campaign on Merseyside.The 44-year-old has indicated that Florian Wirtz will be available for Liverpool tonight, but cast doubt on the involvement of Dominik Szoboszlai and Victor Munoz, and the line-up to take on Chelsea has now been confirmed.(Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trustLiverpool starting XI to face ChelseaIraola has made seven changes in total from the team which began the 2-0 win over Brighton on Sunday.As expected, Giorgi Mamarsashvili comes in for Alisson Becker in goal, and there are two changes in defence as Joe Gomez and Kostas Tsimikas replace Jeremy Jacquet and Milos Kerkez. Surprisingly, Virgil van Dijk and Ronald Araujo are both kept in the starting XI despite their heavy involvement of late.James McConnell and Trey Nyoni both come into the midfield, with Ryan Gravenberch keeping his place from Sunday, and there are also starts up front for Rio Ngumoha and Lewis Koumas, with Bradley Barcola, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak all on the subs’ bench if required. Cody Gakpo starts again on the left flank.Also among the substitutes is Luke Chambers, with the young left-back potentially making just his second senior appearance of the season if he’s brought on tonight.You can view the Liverpool starting XI and substitutes below, via @LFC on X:Come on you Reds pic.twitter.com/o9Rc2yjV7c— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 28, 2026The post Liverpool team news v Chelsea: Virgil van Dijk a surprise starter as Iraola makes seven changes appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.