Jurgen Klopp admits he has a “luxury problem” with his Liverpool squad almost free of injuries, although Darwin Nunez has given him a headache ahead of Sunday’s trip to Arsenal.
The Merseysiders have been without the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson in recent weeks – with Mohamed Salah also sustaining an injury while with Egypt at the African Cup of Nations – but are now approaching a clean bill of health.
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Salah remains out but the other three are back and played a part in Wednesday’s 4-1 hammering of Chelsea at Anfield, much to Klopp’s delight.
He said: “It’s not a challenge. For the first time this season we have a kind of a luxury problem. We have more players available for different positions than we can start. It’s absolutely no problem.
“It’s the only week where we only have one midweek game. After that we go again every three days. So we need all of them in a good shape.
“We had a lot of injuries throughout the season but we were lucky because the others could deal with it. We had players who were still available, or came back from injury, at the right time.”
Nunez set an unwanted record in midweek, becoming the first player to hit the woodwork four times in a Premier League match, but Klopp revealed he did so while playing in pain after suffering an injury early on.
The Uruguay striker will be assessed to see if he is fit to play at the Emirates.
Klopp added: “I don’t know if Darwin is available. After 20 minutes someone stood on his foot. It was very painful after the game. He only took his [football] boot off after the game because he knew it was something. He left the stadium in a boot, and it was not a football boot.
“So nothing broken, X-ray clear, but swollen. We have to see if his foot can get back in a boot, or not, because that takes time. I’ve not seen him yet so we’ll see. Going into a game with this pain it shows so much more.”
The Reds must assess the fitness of Darwin Nunez ahead of Sunday’s visit to Arsenal 🔴
Jürgen Klopp’s pre-Arsenal press conference 🎙️
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) FEBRUARY 2, 2024
Among Nunez’s misses against Chelsea was one from the penalty spot – his shot rebounding back off the right-hand post. Klopp revealed wasting that opportunity had affected the player but the German was impressed with how Nunez kept working for the team despite his personal frustrations.
He said: “It does impact him, of course, he’s a human being. If it didn’t affect him that would be strange. But he knows he’ll get another chance. The penalty miss, that hit him definitely.
“I don’t judge Darwin because of the crossbar moments, I judge him for the assist for Lucho [Luis Diaz] because that was late in the game and super decisive for us.
“That was outstanding football wise, not being bothered by your own bad luck. He stayed in the game and I am more than happy with him.”
Klopp’s men go into the weekend five points clear at the Premier League summit – a lead that will be extended to eight with a win to place the pressure firmly on Manchester City ahead of their game at Brentford on Monday night.
“If we win at Arsenal it will be eight points but everyone knows that,” said Klopp. “All that is outside talk. Inside we just focus on the game, on the things we have to do.
“We have to learn from the games we have played against them and try to win.”
