Liverpool expect to lose Mohamed Salah to the Africa Cup of Nations after their New Year’s Day meeting with Newcastle, meaning he will miss the FA Cup clash with Arsenal.
Salah is set to captain Egypt in the tournament in Ivory Coast and could be away until the middle of February – in which case he would be absent for both legs of Liverpool’s Carabao Cup semi-final against Fulham and potentially big Premier League clashes with Chelsea and Arsenal.
Japan captain Wataru Endo is also set to go to the Asian Cup in Qatar at the same time, meaning Liverpool will have an extra reason to hope that fellow midfielder Alexis Mac Allister recovers from his knee injury in time for the trip to Emirates Stadium on 7 January.
Liverpool face Arsenal in a top-of-the-table clash at Anfield on Saturday with Jurgen Klopp revealing they have only had 135 minutes on the training pitch since they returned from their Europa League tie in Brussels against Union Saint-Gilloise, and in a time when they have had to prepare for a Premier League clash with Manchester United and a Carabao Cup tie win over West Ham.
The Hammers lost 5-1 at Anfield after making six changes but Klopp came to the defence of David Moyes, whose side are also in Europe and had the same schedule, but now play Manchester United in Saturday’s early kick-off.
Klopp said: “I never had a problem with the 12.30 if we don’t play on Wednesday night. I saw that West Ham plays the 12.30. You have to ask the question, is that right? You’re playing a competition where each team should get kind of the same… (time). West Ham had exactly the same as us: Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday [but] 12.30. If you have a week off before it’s not a problem.
“People still think it’s all right to put West Ham in that game… and criticise David Moyes in the week that he makes changes. They are that long in the business and they still ask these questions, “Why did you make changes?” How dare you ask David Moyes that question, “Are you happy with your team selection?”.
“We play at 5.30, that means the boys sleep longer. Breakfast, take it when you get it… and they [West Ham], get up at 7.30 and at 9 they throw in the noodles! You tell me that’s fair? How is that fair? Why can’t they look at that, whoever is doing it?
“How can you have the idea after that week to give them a 12.30? It’s nothing to do with us. For us, put our shirt away and just think about general football problems. We only speak about it when it’s ourselves in the situation. It’s not great. How is that possible?”
