Paul Gorst has welcomed one particular piece of Liverpool team news for this afternoon’s Premier League clash against Tottenham.
The only change in personnel from the 2-2 draw at West Ham sees Mo Salah restored to the starting XI following his touchline dispute with Jurgen Klopp in that game, and naturally that’ll garner plenty of attention prior to kick-off.
However, writing for the Liverpool Echo’s matchday blog (15:34), the journalist is pleased to see Virgil van Dijk in the team, with the captain having missed some training sessions in the days leading up to this fixture.
Gorst wrote: “Good to see Van Dijk start too after missing parts of training this week. Klopp said his captain was [a] doubt but has pulled through.”
Even though there’s relatively little at stake for Liverpool in their final three games other than sending Klopp out on a positive note, we share Gorst’s pleasure at seeing Van Dijk in the starting XI this afternoon.
The centre-back has been one of the most distinguished players of the German’s glorious era at Anfield, transforming a defence which had previously been all too porous, and it’s only right that he should feature prominently as the 56-year-old’s reign nears its emotional conclusion.
On a personal level, the Dutchman will be eager to atone for allowing Dominic Calvert-Lewin to rise above him all too easily for Everton’s second goal in their recent Merseyside derby win.
Hopefully Van Dijk won’t show any weariness from whatever knock interrupted his training schedule over the past few days and can inspire Liverpool to an overdue home victory, having now gone just over a month since they last won in L4.
