Jurgen Klopp is confident that Virgil van Dijk will return for Liverpool’s high-profile clash with Arsenal at the weekend.
The Dutch defender was a surprise absentee from the matchday squad for Tuesday night’s bore draw with Chelsea, sitting out the Premier League meeting at Stamford Bridge through illness.
Instead Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate were partnered together in central defence for a listless Liverpool team that showed a surprising six changes from their heavy 4-1 defeat by Manchester City on Saturday, with the likes of Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cody Gakpo and Andy Robertson all on the bench.
That shake-up failed to inspire the Reds, who were fortunate to come away from west London with a point after Reece James and Kai Havertz both saw goals chalked off by the VAR in Chelsea’s first match of the post-Graham Potter era under interim head coach Bruno Saltor with several other decent chances squandered by the toothless hosts.
A turgid stalemate did at least halt Liverpool’s damaging run of three consecutive losses since their 7-0 drubbing of Manchester United last month, though they remain eighth in the table and now seven points adrift of the top four with 10 games left to play in a troubled season.
A massive challenge now looms at Anfield on Sunday, with top-flight leaders Arsenal paying a visit to Merseyside. And Klopp does at least expect to have defensive talisman Van Dijk available for that huge showdown as Liverpool attempt to derail Mikel Arteta’s title push.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the German said when asked if he expected the Netherlands captain to return against Arsenal. “He was ill but until the weekend we have a few days.”
Assessing another lacklustre performance from his drifting team, Klopp told Sky Sports: “So I saw a couple of 0-0s against Chelsea over the last few years. The two finals are two of the best games I’ve seen. Tonight was different.
“Two teams on a low confidence level but they put in a good fight. Super attitude and super mentality and that’s what I saw. They had a chance, we had a chance. We had to fight until the end, they had to fight until the end. It was a super intense game but not a spectacular game.
“A reaction must always be [important]. I saw a lot of great challenges, people flying into tackles and that’s what we need. Midfield, the three of them didn’t play that often together. That’s what we have to build on. If things don’t go your way you have to fight through this and make steps. Sometimes smaller ones, sometimes bigger ones and this was a smaller one.
“From a passion point of view I really liked the game. Yes it was not the best football but these boys are really good footballers and tonight they put in a proper shift. I thought really for the six changes especially, it was good tonight and that’s what I take. They wanted to win desperately, we did as well, but we have to take a point.”
