Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Liverpool have no new injuries ahead of Wednesday’s clash with Midtjylland, and is likely to rotate for a dead-rubber he “wants to win.”
The Reds are already guaranteed to top Group D in the Champions League following their 1-0 win over Ajax last time out, ensuring this week’s trip to Denmark is effectively meaningless.
With fixtures coming thick and fast in the Premier League throughout December, it is a convenient situation for Klopp, who is now able to rotate with one eye on Sunday’s trip to Fulham.
There will be no changes to the options available to the manager, with the likes of Alisson, Thiago, James Milner, Xherdan Shaqiri and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all still sidelined, while no further issues have cropped up.
“Nobody suffered any kind of problems, injuries, whatever from the last game which would rule him out for the next one,” Klopp told reporters in his pre-match press conference.
“On the other side, nobody is close enough to return to the squad.”
In order to avoid further setbacks, however, it has been widely mooted that Klopp would make almost wholesale changes, handing a number of youngsters priceless experience in the Champions League.
Questioned on whether or not he would turn to youth for this clash with the Danish champions, the manager hinted that he would be rotating for a game less than 72 hours after their last outing, but stressed that “we want to win the game.”
“Our Champions League squad already was very young. We had four, five, six players involved in the squad for the whole campaign so far,” he explained,
“Yes, they will travel and we will make decisions. Today we have one session, yesterday we had a session already, especially with players who didn’t play in the Wolves games.
“Today is the one session we have together, so I still have a few hours to make decisions. I will use the time, our analysis is not finalised yet, and it will all play a part in my thinking. So we will see.
“You’re right it’s the first time we don’t ‘have’ to get a result in the last match, the first time which we are first in the table already.
“So we have to consider the general situation, that’s clear, but we have to consider as well it’s the Champions League, we are Liverpool, and we want to win the game.
“All these kinds of things will lead in the end to a lineup.”
Klopp suggested that Caoimhin Kelleher will keep his place as “usually a goalie you don’t have to change that often,” while this game could provide an opportunity for both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Naby Keita to pick up minutes after injury.
Elsewhere, the likes of Rhys Williams, Kostas Tsimikas, Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi are expected to start, while Billy Koumetio, Jake Cain and Leighton Clarkson are among the younger options.
Luis Longstaff, Yasser Larouci, Liam Millar and Layton Stewart are also eligible, but it is unlikely they will feature, while both Paul Glatzel and Elijah Dixon-Bonner are injured.
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