This season is already starting to summon memories of 2020/21 for Liverpool. The Reds were beset by countless injuries throughout that campaign, and it took a remarkable late surge for them to secure Champions League qualification.
At the peak of the availability crisis last year, Jurgen Klopp was without 10 players for two matches. Remarkably, his side won them both, though when you’re relying upon an injury time winner from your goalkeeper, it’s fair to say one of the victories was looking very unlikely.
Since the beginning of Klopp’s first full season at the helm, there have been five matches – only one of which was won – where he was deprived of exactly nine players thanks to fitness problems. Two of the games in this sample were the recent fixtures against Crystal Palace and Manchester United.
