Liverpool beat Chelsea 4-1 in the Premier League and now turn their attention to Arsenal.
Jurgen Klopp allayed fears over Alexis Mac Allister’s knee injury during Liverpool’s 4-1 victory over Chelsea.
But the Reds boss admitted that his players looked fatigued after the game as they now prepare for a crunch clash at Premier League title rivals Arsenal.
Liverpool restored their five-point lead at the summit of the table as they powered past Chelsea at Anfield. Diogo Jota, Conor Bradley, Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Diaz were all on target, while Darwin Nunez missed a penalty and hit the woodwork a total of four times.
Optimism is growing that Klopp’s final season as manager can end with a second Premier League crown being claimed. Liverpool have the chance to make a huge statement when they face third-placed Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Mac Allister required treatment for several minutes against Chelsea following a collision with Cesare Casade in the closing stages, but managed to stay on the pitch. Klopp is hopeful the midfielder, who had a prolonged spell out in December because of a freak cut to his knee, will be fit to face Arsenal.
Liverpool had seven games throughout January despite an 11-day break. They had injuries to key players including Szoboszlai, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson during the period, although youngsters such as Bradley – bagging his first Reds goals against Chelsea and claiming two assists – and Jarell Quansah stepped up.
Now Klopp will assess his roster and see who’ll be ready to face the Gunners. He said: “We finally realised we had seven games in January with 11 days off in between, I don’t know how we fitted them in but obviously we had to start January 1. And we couldn’t have put the string of results together we had without the boys, without the kids. Without Quansah, no chance. We have both left-backs out, Trent out, midfielders out, all these things. [On Sunday against Norwich] we played with James McConnell on six and he played extremely well. So, these boys used now the situation, and that’s exactly in an ideal world how it should be.
“Now the next game is coming in four days and I have no idea who can play again because they looked quite knackered when I had a look in the dressing room! Little back here, Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] on the knee – knee on knee – stuff like this. Nothing major, at least nobody told me that yet. So it’s all fine. We need them all – and it’s not a phrase, it’s exactly how it is. And I’m happy for them they all could perform the way they performed. The next massive game is coming up already, at Arsenal, and let’s recover and go again.”
