Jurgen Klopp has no fresh injury concerns as Liverpool get set to host a buoyed Watford side at Anfield on Saturday.
Liverpool host Watford at Anfield on Saturday and Jurgen Klopp’s men have the opportunity to close the gap to second-placed Manchester United with a win over the Hornets. The German manager though, will be eager to fix the chinks in his defensive armoury when Javi Gracia’s men come visiting.
Last weekend, Manchester United targeted Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dejan Lovren, and quite effective at that, as they went on to win the game 2-1. Lovren’s problems against Romelu Lukaku in that game could see Joel Matip come into the side to partner Virgil Van Dijk at the heart of the Liverpool defence.
The other change in defence, as iterated, could come in the right-back slot, where Nathaniel Clyne’s much-anticipated return from injury will surely provide Klopp a selection headache considering Joe Gomez and Alexander-Arnold have performed admirably there.
For now the choice remains between the two youngsters, and the Liverpool boss said in his pre-match press conference, that he still hasn’t made his final decision yet. Gomez recently recovered from a knee injury, although Klopp’s comments suggest that he could come into the side, if fit.
“Joe had a little injury only, but that can sometimes mean you are out for two or three games because the other one is playing pretty well. That is what happened. Now we will see who will start at the weekend.”
At the back, Loris Karius has, at least for now, firmly established himself as Liverpool’s first-choice goalkeeper ahead of Simon Mignolet. Manchester United did score past him twice last week, but Klopp is set to retain his trust in the German ahead of the Watford clash.
In midfield, Adam Lallana is one player who has been in focus as he continues making his way back from a long-term injury. Klopp has again maintained that while there has been no new injury concern with the Englishman, the player needs time to recover to enhance his fitness further,, suggesting that he might not be risked with a start on Saturday.
“For us, it’s a big challenge to have him around and not to bring him [on the pitch], to be honest, because maybe at the moment he needs a little bit longer. It’s not because of age or whatever, from all other points of view he’s in fantastic shape, but he needs a little bit more recovery time, stuff like that, and we needed all to learn and deal with that.”
Other than Lallana, Klopp will make a late decision on choosing the third midfielder to partner Jordan Henderson and Emre Can and could play either of Georginio Wijnaldum or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The attacking triad picks itself once again, with Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino set to start.
