There are no new injury concerns for Liverpool going into their clash with Manchester United but Jurgen Klopp will be without at least six players as the road to recovery begins for defender Joel Matip.
The Reds were afforded almost wholesale changes in their final Europa League group stage match against Union Saint-Gilloise on Thursday, Jurgen Klopp made nine changes from the side that beat Crystal Palace last Saturday.
While Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alisson Becker were all left out of the squad that flew to Brussels this week, as a result, the German head coach handed opportunities to some of the Kirkby Academy graduates for the dead-rubber at Lotto Park.
Ibrahima Konate was among those who started at the back for Liverpool, alongside Jarell Quansah, and managed 45 minutes as he was among the senior players who were named in the starting 11. Curtis Jones, who captained the Reds against the Belgian league leaders, Wataru Endo and Harvey Elliott were also handed starts with Cody Gakpo leading the line.
Ryan Gravenberch and Darwin Nunez were offered runouts as the Reds looked to avoid defeat but they couldn’t overturn the deficit handing Union SG a famous 2-1 win.
With the opportunity to rest a number of first-teamers, it appears that Liverpool came through unscathed and Klopp will have options at his disposal apart from the returning casualties and long-term injuries. Defender Matip successfully underwent surgery on an anterior cruciate ligament injury after he was forced off during the 4-3 win over Fulham in early December.
While Stefan Bajcetic remains one of the long-term absentees, it was a welcome sight to see Thiago Alcantara in pictures at the AXA Training Centre as he posed alongside Salah celebrating his latest landmark. The Spanish midfielder has yet to make an appearance for the Reds this season, with his last coming in April against West Ham.
Klopp expressed his excitement at the prospect of the 32-year-old returning to first-team training last week. He said: “It’s an ongoing thing.
“And we cannot put any kind of pressure there as well, but we expect him to be back probably start of the New Year. It’s now already November, that would mean another four weeks, I would say that’s probably a realistic thing to try.
“We can’t wait, to be honest, to have him back. The player is just exceptional. I understand that you ask, but we can’t now have a week-by-week update, because that will not change a lot in this moment.”
Andy Robertson is also edging closer as he eyes a return in the New Year from a shoulder injury. The Scotland captain hasn’t featured since the 2-2 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion in October after undergoing surgery on the issue suffered on international duty with the Tartan Army.
Diogo Jota and Alexis Mac Allister remain in the treatment room for Liverpool. Jota was forced off before the hour mark in the 1-1 draw with Manchester City but the encounter with Manchester United appears too soon for his inclusion.
Mac Allister will miss the visit of Erik ten Hag’s side as he continues his recovery from a heavy tackle in the win over Sheffield United a week ago.
“I am obviously not a doctor but they have explained it to me every single day why he is not ready yet and it’s a bit more tricky than we thought in the first moment,” Klopp said on Wednesday.
“So the other boy stepped on his knee and the stud, the thing under the boot, and it went through the muscle pretty much to the bone. So now we have to wait until the bone is healed and until Macca can deal with the pain.
“It’s pretty painful and actually Macca is a super tough guy but we have to make sure there is no infection and nothing happens and that is important. So it was a really…I’ve never had this injury with one of my players before.
“But now we have it and I hope it will not take that long to heal but I would like to say to it is day by day and it looks like he could be ready for the next game but they say he will not be ready for that as well, so I hope the next three or four days he makes big steps and we will see.”