Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has conceded that Thiago Alcantara will be "out for a while" as Fabinho makes his return to the starting line-up to face Everton.
Former Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago was absent from training in preparation for the Merseyside derby with a hip issue and now his boss has revealed that he will be out for an extended period.
Thiago has been ever-present for the Reds since the resumption of football following the enforced winter break due to the World Cup, replacing Fabinho at the heart of the midfield after the Brazilian suffered a dip in form. Klopp was tight-lipped on the diagnosis on the Spaniard in his pre-match press conference on Friday.
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However, speaking tonight ahead of the clash with the Blues, he revealed the extent of Thiago's injury. Klopp, who has also recalled captain Jordan Henderson, said: "We had a long training week - seven sessions - so that’s long, everybody showed up that could show up, Fabinho had a really good training week, we all know that it is not his best season so far, but in training he looked really, really good, so that was something clear that we bring him, and Hendo is always close to get into the team.
"Obviously the Thiago situation is not cool for us, he’ll be out for a while with a problem and so we had to make one decision at least, so we made two."
Stefan Bajectic continues his run in the starting line-up, with Klopp feeling the youngster warrants it.
"A player in form, you could see it in all the games," said the Reds manager. "Imagine the Wolverhampton game without him, it would have been an interesting one to be honest, so he’s just in a good moment. "We had different options, we thought Naby (Keita) could have played again, but completely fine, we had so many options so in the end for the game we expect tonight we thought this is the midfield that makes the most sense."
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