Liverpool eased through their Europa League Round of 16 first leg tie against Sparta Prague on Thursday night, but it wasn’t without its problems for Jurgen Klopp.
The 5-1 victory virtually assures the Reds a pathway into the quarter-finals of the European competition, and the German had a couple of positive aspects to celebrate after the game.
Mo Salah got on the scoresheet on his return from injury, and Darwin Nunez’s pile driver, the first of two he scored on the night, brought up 1000 goals under Klopp since he took over the hot-seat at Anfield.
Despite an injury crisis of sorts for the table toppers at present, the wayward shooting from the hosts and an inability to convert even the easiest of chances meant that Liverpool were rarely troubled.
Jurgen Klopp’s injury update on Gomez and Konate
The issues that did arise during the game, however, were the early withdrawals of Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez.
Before the return leg against Sparta, the Reds have the small matter of a top-of-the-table clash against Man City.
The potentially season-defining match is bound to be a sell-out but Liverpool v Man City Tickets can still be acquired by the lucky few.
Whether Klopp will have a strong enough XI to go toe-to-toe with Pep Guardiola’s swashbucklers won’t be known until their final training session, though there was some good news as far as Gomez was concerned.
“Ibou said to me when he passed me in that moment, ‘I thought if I do another sprint then it could be bad.’ So, he said he should be fine, but we don’t know,” Klopp was quoted as saying by Give Me Sport.
“Joey [Joe Gomez] is fine. We took him off, he played a lot of games so that was more rotation, precaution. Now let’s see what it is with Ibou.”
A win is imperative for the hosts if they want to remain at the summit of the English top-flight.
Should the visitors emerge victorious, then City will supplant them at the top, and a draw won’t do either side any favours given that if Arsenal have beaten Brentford on Saturday evening, they will end the weekend top if it’s all square at Anfield.
The stats would support a positive result for Liverpool, with 11 vs 11 noting that although City won at Anfield in the Premier League in February 2021, that’s their only league victory on Merseyside since May 2003.
The standard of football will be expected to be at the very highest level, as the two brightest managerial minds in the league go head to head once more.
Anfield will absolutely be in full voice for a game which could be crucial to Liverpool’s title aspirations and it’s sure to be a must watch for those lucky enough to attend in person or who are watching on from home.