Jurgen Klopp is confident Liverpool will “show their class” and offer injured defender Joel Matip a new contract.
Matip damaged an anterior cruciate ligament in last Sunday’s last-gasp win over Fulham and may be out until the summer when his Anfield contract expires.
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Asked if Liverpool will hand the Germany-born defender new terms, he said: “Yeah, I’m pretty sure the club will show their class, just how you should do it.
“I’m pretty sure the club told Joel already that whatever happens, as long as he is injured, everything is fine.
“And now we have to make a decision together with Joel [to see] how it looks after that and what he wants to do. But, yes, he deserves all the support from us obviously and he will get it.
“It’s not my decision, though. I cannot sign the papers.”
Liverpool can go top of the table with a win at Crystal Palace in the early kick-off – for a few hours at least – but Klopp does not believe that places any additional pressure on the teams that play later in the day.
He added: “With playing in the Europa League, we’re [normally] on the other side of that. I can say we ignore the results of other teams because we play Thursday and then Sunday, when everybody played on Saturday or whatever, so usually they have already won their games.
“I don’t feel that kind of pressure from other teams, we want to win our games and Arsenal doesn’t need extra pressure, they play Aston Villa so that’s enough of a job to do.
“We have a job to do against Crystal Palace and we’ll be 100 per cent focused on that.
“I have no clue who plays on Sunday, but I will lie on the sofa on Sunday afternoon and watch football games and see what they do, more out of interest if we play them.
“No-one became champion by being at the top of the table on Saturday at 2.15pm or whatever on matchday 16. But we need the points, we want to go for them and that’s what we prepare for in the short space of time.”
Liverpool could have goalkeeper Alisson back from an injury sustained in the 1-1 draw at Manchester City last month but Alexis Mac Allister is unlikely to play following a knock picked up in the 2-0 win at Sheffield United on Wednesday night.
“Alisson looks good, I don’t know if good enough for tomorrow,” added Klopp. “I have to check that with the coaches and the medical department, and with Ali, of course.
“Macca doesn’t look good, so we have to see day by day. They were pretty hopeful after the game that it was not serious.
“We have to wait to see how he shows up today. I don’t expect him to be ready for tomorrow, I don’t know about Thursday or Sunday after that. We have to see.”
