Liverpool injuries & suspensions ahead of Merseyside derby
By Euan Burns
Liverpool's form has been extremely poor over the past few months and if there is any game their fans are desperate not to lose, it is this one. The Merseyside derby takes place on Monday night and Everton are surprisingly coming off the back of a win against league leaders Arsenal.
It has been a while since a Merseyside derby has featured these two teams seemingly at their lowest ebb. Regardless of that Arsenal win, Everton have been terrible all season and it cannot be assumed that they have suddenly turned a corner in one game under Sean Dyche.
As for Liverpool, they sit down in tenth and just got beat 3-0 by Wolves at Molineux. What is more troublesome is that the result and scoreline was not met with much shock from the football world. It is a result in keeping with others this season for Liverpool.
Jurgen Klopp will be desperate for his team to turn the tide, so here are the suspensions and injuries he must navigate his way around.
Liverpool suspension news
While he may have his fair share of injuries to deal with, Klopp does not need to worry about any fit players being suspended for this one. He will be able to call on the full pool of players that aren't on the treatment table or working their way back into training.
A Liverpool player that has come in for a lot of stick in recent weeks is Jordan Henderson but Klopp came out in support of the Englishman recently and has no plans to move away from his captain.
"I don't understand why we're talking about one player," Klopp said. "Hendo, everybody knows how much respect I have. Hendo is not our problem, never was and never will be.
"When he is ready, good shape, he played 98% of the games we had. He hasn't [started] for two or three games, but came on. He played all these games because he's a very, very, very important player for us. That's the only reason. When he's not playing, you miss that. It's as easy as that. But there's nothing. Yes, he's very important."
Liverpool injury news
Liverpool have had plenty of injury issues to deal with this season but they could soon get an influx of players coming back into the squad. Diogo Jota could return to the team for the match against Everton with brings a new option for Klopp.
Roberto Firmino and Arthur Melo are back in full training and will return soon, although this game will likely come too soon for them. They certainly won't be in contention to start. It has come too soon for Virgil van Dijk, who will definitely be out.
Ibrahima Konate and Luiz Diaz are still out of the picture entirely and Thiago Alcantara has a hip problem and may not be ready to play a role at Anfield on Monday night.