Iraola's Liverpool Teamsheet Dilemma: Araujo or Jacquet?

Andoni Iraola’s first Liverpool teamsheet will tell its own story.

The Spaniard walks into St James’ Park on Sunday with one major call still hanging over him: who stands next to Virgil van Dijk at the heart of his defence?

Araujo or Jacquet?

Injury has already narrowed the field. Joe Gomez is out after a pre-season setback, Giovanni Leoni is a long-term absentee, and that leaves just two senior centre-backs competing for one place: Araujo and summer signing Jeremy Jacquet.

Both were given a half each in the final warm-up game against Como, a useful audition in front of the Anfield crowd. Jacquet seized his moment with a goal just before the break, a sharp reminder of his threat in the opposition box on what was his first outing at his new home.

The bigger picture is less straightforward. Jacquet has been playing catch-up for months. Shoulder surgery in February at Rennes stalled his momentum, and his pre-season has been stop-start as he tries to build fitness and rhythm. Iraola knows throwing him straight into one of the Premier League’s most hostile away grounds carries risk.

Araujo, by contrast, knows exactly what awaits on Tyneside. He has felt the noise, the aggression, the relentlessness of St James’ Park. Iraola may lean on that experience for a fixture that remains one of the division’s sternest away assignments, even with Newcastle wrestling their own summer problems.

If Liverpool’s new head coach is looking for the safer early-season option, Araujo has the edge.

A settled spine around one big decision

Beyond that centre-back dilemma, the rest of the XI almost writes itself.

Alisson will anchor the side from goal. Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez are set to complete the back five alongside Van Dijk and Iraola’s chosen partner, offering pace and aggression in the wide defensive roles.

In midfield, Ryan Gravenberch is expected to line up with Dominik Szoboszlai. Trey Nyoni did everything he could in pre-season to complicate that picture, impressing with his energy and maturity, but for a season opener of this magnitude, Iraola is likely to trust the more established pair.

Curtis Jones will not be part of the new era’s first chapter. He has travelled to Italy to finalise his move to Inter Milan, taking one long-serving academy product out of the equation. Alexis Mac Allister, meanwhile, has barely featured this summer, logging just 54 minutes after an extended post-World Cup break. Throwing him in from the start here would be a gamble Iraola does not need to take.

New faces, familiar hostility

Out wide, Liverpool’s plans look set, largely because the market has not moved in time. With Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye unlikely to arrive before Friday’s registration deadline, Rio Ngumoha and Cody Gakpo are expected to start on the flanks. Between them, Florian Wirtz should operate in the No 10 role, tasked with stitching together Iraola’s attacking patterns and feeding the lone striker.

That striker carries his own storyline.

Leading the line will be Alexander Isak, returning to St James’ Park for the first time since his record £125 million move from Newcastle last summer. The manner of that transfer means he can expect a cold, unforgiving reception from the home support. Every touch will be judged, every miss seized upon.

For Iraola, that edge is no bad thing. His Liverpool reign begins in one of English football’s loudest arenas, with a hostile crowd, a contentious former hero up front, and a single, crucial decision still to make at centre-back.

The new era starts with a test of nerve.