Jurgen Klopp is confident goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher will thrive in the absence of regular Liverpool number one Alisson.
The Brazil international has been ruled out for several weeks after sustaining an injury in last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Manchester City with Kelleher stepping in and keeping a clean sheet in Thursday’s 4-0 Europa League win over LASK Linz.
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Irishman Kelleher will be between the sticks once again when Fulham visit Anfield on Sunday with Liverpool chasing an 11th successive home win in all competitions, and Klopp believes he is ready to step up.
“Yeah, no doubt, no doubt,” he said. “We see him every day in training. He is an exceptional, exceptional talent.
“He is in general a focused person. You will not see him in a bar celebrating the clean sheet [against LASK]. That is not a problem.
“Now, obviously, for him it is the situation he didn’t want to have [Alisson injured] but he wants opportunities, he wants to play and now he will get a few games, definitely. And I trust him.”
Cody Gakpo was recalled to the starting XI for the midweek game and responded with a brace, leaving Klopp with the tricky decision of whether to persist with the Netherlands international or switch back to Darwin Nunez on Sunday.
He added: “Darwin is in a top moment and that didn’t change, [he] is super-important for us. That he didn’t start [on Thursday] has nothing to do with anything else. Now Cody scored twice, fantastic. Does that mean he has to play the next five games in a row?
“Other players scored as well. It is not about that and Cody doesn’t expect [that] now. They have to score, that’s the job, that’s what they want, but it is not that I have sleepless nights now and don’t know who to start.”
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Fulham edged past Wolves 3-2 in a controversial VAR-riddled game on Monday night and Klopp is a fan of their Portuguese manager Marco Silva.
“I just think that Marco is a top manager, he is doing a brilliant job,” he said.
“It is a really good football team, a really good football team. How they set it up with, I don’t know, [Raul] Jimenez now up front or whoever will play, or [Carlos] Vinicius and then you have one of the greatest players the Premier League ever saw still going and going and going [Willian]. Then you have [Andreas] Pereira.
“It is just a good football team, well set up and that makes it special. In this little stadium there, they can create a proper atmosphere as well. We had our struggles there, but here, again, it is at home and we have to make sure it will be extremely difficult for them, first and foremost.”
