Official: Italy winger Chiesa starts first Premier League game for Liverpool | OneFootball

Federico Chiesa will start his first Premier League game for Liverpool as the Italian winger features in Arne Slot’s XI for an away match at Brighton.

Italian winger Chiesa is ready to start his first Premier League match tonight as his club Liverpool visit Brighton at the Amex Stadium.

The Reds have already clinched the Premier League title, but Chiesa has only made five appearances as a substitute in league games this term, spending just 41 minutes on the pitch.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – JANUARY 11: Federico Chiesa of Liverpool scores his team’s fourth goal during the Emirates FA Cup Third Round match between Liverpool and Accrington Stanley at Anfield on January 11, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

He’ll start in Liverpool’s front-three tonight alongside Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo.

Chiesa joined Liverpool on a permanent transfer from Juventus last summer and dealt with recurring injuries during the first part of the campaign at Anfield.

The former Juventus and Fiorentina star, a Euro 2020 winner with the Italy national team, has two goals and two assists in 13 appearances across all competitions this season.

Prior to tonight’s game, Chiesa had only started three times in other competitions for Liverpool this season, including against PSV in the Champions League in January.

What Slot said about Chiesa

“In terms of the quality he has, he would deserve more playing time at this football club or the club he’s playing for, because he has the quality to play for us,” the Reds boss said at a press conference on Friday.

“But unfortunately for him, he’s in competition with Mo Salah when it’s about the right wing. And I think he could also play as a left winger but there’s Cody Gakpo and Lucho Diaz. I don’t think I’m wrong if I tell you that these three have had a great, great, great season. And for him starting one or two or maybe even three nil down because the moment he came in he was not as fit as the other players were.

“That then, of course, doesn’t help in the beginning and before he was as fit as the rest, the other ones did so well that there was not a lot of reason for me to change, and even to be in a squad then becomes difficult if Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota are there as well. But is he good enough to play for us? Yes, he is. I’ve always felt that Lucho Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Mo Salah deserved the confidence I had in them and I hardly ever changed that set-up between the three of them.”