MatchChelsea v Liverpool: Team news

The visit to Stamford Bridge comes only three days after the Reds’ defeat at Manchester City and, as such, Klopp believes alterations to be essential.

“Games like this [against City] have an impact, double – you might lose even more confidence but the desire to show a reaction is there as well,” the manager said on Monday.

“The boys are still good people and they want to show a reaction, 100 per cent. But the short turnaround is the problem, in this moment I have no clue who I can line up because I get this information after the press conference, because we want to wait with these decisions as long as possible, give the boys as much time to recover.

“There will be changes definitely, [there] have to be. That’s what we have to use then. Forty-eight hours and then you travel and then you wait in London in a hotel for the kick-off, it’s all here [in the mind] and that’s what we are working on.”

Klopp reported no fresh injury concerns following the game at Etihad Stadium, which was missed by Naby Keita, but stated: “Let me say, two days after a game pretty much everybody is a doubt but I didn’t hear now anything that somebody is definitely out; maybe a few late calls, that’s it.”

Thiago Alcantara and Luis Diaz remain unavailable.

On Diaz, the boss said: “No, he’s not available [to face Chelsea]. But he is in training, but he is not ready for this game. As much as we want him to be back, we still have to give him time.

“Obviously it was long ago that he had the initial injury but when he came back to training in Dubai, it looked outstanding until he got injured again. So we have to make sure we are patient in that moment.

“This week, I wouldn’t say Arsenal is completely out of the picture but it’s rather unlikely. But after that then Luis will be back.”

And in offering an update on Thiago, Klopp added: “We had Thiago yesterday in training, in normal team training, which is good as well, but he’s not available for tomorrow of course, so we will see how he reacts. That’s it.”

Wesley Fofana and Raheem Sterling were absent for Chelsea’s home loss to Aston Villa on Saturday and, during his press conference on Monday, interim head coach Bruno Saltor said ‘it’s the same news as last week’ regarding player availability.

Cesar Azpilicueta, Armando Broja and Thiago Silva are out for the Blues.

Last match

Chelsea 0-2 Aston Villa (April 1): Kepa, James, Koulibaly, Cucurella, Loftus-Cheek, Chilwell, Fernandez, Kovacic, Havertz, Mudryk, Felix.

Manchester City 4-1 Liverpool (April 1): Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Elliott, Salah, Jota, Gakpo.