Hello and welcome to today’s blog taking in the five 3pm kick-offs. First up Liverpool vs Burnley.
Having had virtually a full squad a few weeks ago, Jurgen Klopp suddenly has personnel issues before his side’s home game with Burnley.
Thiago Alcantara is out with a hamstring injury – although Klopp confirmed he could yet return in a few weeks – while a flu bug has affected the squad this week.
After defeat at Arsenal – Liverpool’s second in the Premier League this season – Klopp knows there can be no more slips given Manchester City’s menacing presence.
“We have a tool box full of the right tools, we just have to use them and we didn’t do that properly at Arsenal. We just have to admit that,” said Klopp.
“That is why on top of the pure defeat, that we couldn’t do that that day was really painful. But now that was long ago and we have to try again.
“That is how defeats are. Before we played Arsenal, they were more or less out of form, out of the race, out of everything. They win the game and everything is great.
“We beat Chelsea a few days before it really looked like, ‘Wow, Liverpool really goes for it this year’. The last game is the least important, if you want, and the only thing you can use it for is to react. To maintain, to do it again or to change it and with us it is always a little bit, with the general shape we’re in, we need to do both.”
Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai faces a race to be fit for the Carabao Cup final with Jurgen Klopp unsure when he will be back in action.
Szoboszlai missed last weekend’s trip to Arsenal with a recurrence of the tendon injury which ruled him out for most of January.
Although the Hungary skipper is pain-free, Klopp says the damage is such that care must be taken before he plays again.
By Chris Bascombe