Coming off a thrilling 4-3 win over Manchester City last weekend, Liverpool will be looking to the other end of the table with when they visit relegation threatened Swansea City on Monday night — in what sounds like just in time to have some key faces return to the starting eleven.
“Virgil was back yesterday and completely fine. We have a few problems with players feeling ill or unwell,” explained Reds boss Jurgen Klopp, speaking to the press at Melwood earlier today. “Raggy was out, but hopefully back today. Dejan was out. Mo Salah was out, but hopefully back today,” said the German manager, hinting that both Klavan and Salah should be ready for the trip to the Liberty Stadium on Monday, but he was less optimistic on the status of Dejan Lovren. “Mo and Raggy are on the good side of it already, but with Dejan we are not 100 per cent sure [if he will be back today].”
Missing out on the meeting with City after suffering a slight hamstring strain, Van Dijk watched the second half blitz from the sidelines that saw the two sides score a combined five goals. Salah, on the other hand, was his usual prolific self — setting up one goal and scoring the winner as Liverpool ended Pep Guardiola’s hopes of going an entire season unbeaten.
Looking to further solidify their place in the top four, the meeting with the Jacks should be an altogether different outing for the Reds. Although Klopp made no mention of whether or not Van Dijk would be ready from the off, he did shed some light on who would start between the sticks with Loris Karius set to retain his spot in the starting eleven.
“We changed a lot of positions through the year and only with the goalkeeper it looks like we have to stick to our opinion for 20 years if we’ve made a decision one time, so I changed not my opinion, but I changed the situation now, that’s all,” said the gaffer, going on to confirm that this is no longer a matter of rotation. “Of course Loris has to deliver, he knows that, but now he is the No.1 and that means he can play a game and he can concede a goal like he conceded against Manchester,” added Klopp, throwing his backing behind the German ‘keeper. “It’s not that we want that but it’s still possible, but all the good things I’d like to see again. I saw a lot of good things in the games he played in the last few weeks. That’s why he’s in.”
