LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Wednesday, December 1, 2021: Liverpool's manager Jürgen Klopp, wearing a face mask, before the FA Premier League match between Everton FC and Liverpool FC, the 239th Merseyside Derby, at Goodison Park. Liverpool won 4-1. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Jurgen Klopp’s update on Liverpool’s Covid situation: “We want to play Sunday”

Debate continues over how football should proceed in the light of increasing Covid cases and Jurgen Klopp has said he wants to play against Tottenham as things stand but a tense afternoon awaits.

The Reds recorded three positive cases on Thursday with Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Curtis Jones all receiving the news before entering the club’s training base in Kirkby.

It means Liverpool joined a host of clubs with absences due to the virus, ones which have already seen five of the weekend’s games postponed, while three did not go ahead in midweek.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Thursday, December 16, 2021: Liverpool's Diogo Jota celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Newcastle United FC at Anfield. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

  • No new cases yet – but players arrive later
  • Want to play on Sunday if no new cases
  • Questions lack of transparency from other clubs

And as for Liverpool’s current cases, Klopp said another confirmation for the trio to rule out a false positive has not been received, while “nobody else is positive yet,” but the players have not yet reported for training.

Sunday’s game at Tottenham is to go ahead as it stands and Klopp says the Reds want to play but will be at the mercy of any further positive results.

“We have now in the moment games to play,” said Klopp. “Thursday and Sunday is tough (anyway). We have no information about Tottenham – I really have no idea.

“We have no information about Spurs. I have no idea if they have trained today. We don’t think we shouldn’t play on Sunday and we would like to play.

“I say that now, if we in two hours when the players arrive and we have six, seven, eight more cases then, of course, we cannot play.

“But in the situation we are in now we can play and we want to play.”

Tottenham have had their last three games postponed due to Covid cases and will not have played since December 5 by the time Sunday comes around, should the game go ahead as planned.