Mueez Ajao
– Three Liverpool players and more staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the trip to Chelsea but it is too soon to ask the Premier League to postpone the game, manager Jurgen Klopp said on Friday.
– The league has postponed 18 games so far due to a mixture of COVID-19 outbreaks and injuries at several clubs, leaving them without enough players to fulfil fixtures.
– “We have three new COVID cases in the team and a few more in the staff, so it’s not so cool at the moment,” Klopp told reporters ahead of Sunday’s game in London.
Also Read: How Liverpool fell in the hands of Leicester
– “I’m not able to reveal who tested positive because we have to go through the whole process, PCR [tests], but you will see the day after tomorrow on the team sheet, it will be clear who is affected.”
– When asked if Liverpool would have to ask for the game to be postponed, Klopp said: “Not yet, but we don’t know. We never had an outbreak where 10-15 players had it.
– “For us, it’s more every day another one [tests positive]… it feels like a lottery in the morning. It’s day by day another case. We don’t know how it will look in a few hours.”
– Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, Thiago Alcantara, Fabinho and Curtis Jones had returned to training earlier this week after going into isolation due to positive COVID-19 tests.
– Klopp added that Thiago and Takumi Minamino, who missed the midweek loss at Leicester City due to muscle soreness, were not yet fit to play.
– “Taki is probably closer, he’s running outside. Thiago not yet,” he said. “It might take a little longer, a hip issue — we have no idea where it’s coming from. We have to be a little bit patient.”
– Third-placed Liverpool are one point behind Chelsea, who are second, with a game in hand.
– Leaders Manchester City are eight points ahead of Chelsea and Klopp said that despite their healthy advantage halfway through the season there was still a lot to play for.
– “When you have this kind of close [title] fight, especially with a consistent team like City who aren’t fazed by COVID or injuries — they’re in a good moment — but you cannot win the league properly in the winter. It’s unlikely,” Klopp said.
– “But what they [City] have now is a gap, it’s absolutely deserved for them, but let’s just give it a go. Only one team can be champions.
– “There’s a decisive moment in April, there you have to be close enough to give it a proper go. We’ll see where we are then. From now to then… so many games to play, so many different competitions to play.”
