Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate missed the Man City game and then the win over Sparta Prague due to an injury and now Klopp has to choose between Jarell Quansah and Joe Gomez for their upcoming FA Cup clash.
Despite the injury, Konate has been named in the France squad which initially indicated that he might be fit to play this weekend but his manager has suggested otherwise.
Liverpool travel to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United in the quarter-final on Sunday and young Jarell Quansah along with Joe Gomez will be pushing to be the second centre-back.
These two paired up in central defence on Thursday night but Van Dijk will return to the side which means one of them will have to make way.
Konate’s injury has come at the worst possible time because Joel Matip and TAA are both out injured and this has forced Klopp to play defenders out of position.
Thankfully, Jarell Quansah has stepped up to the task and the 21-year-old has been a consistent performer since the start of February. The last three matches have been particularly great for the youngster because apart from two great games against Sparta Prague in the Europa League, he also stood tall against Manchester City.
He’s featured in nine EPL matches this season and Jarell Quansah is yet to be dispossed by an opponent. Also, alongside winning 70% of his aerial duels, he’s won 85.7% of his tackles and given that this is his first senior season, the academy graduate is doing great.
Joe Gomez, is obviously, the more experienced one so he should be the one who partners Van Dijk but we think Jurgen Klopp is going to rely on Jarell Quansah in central defence and push Gomez to the right-hand side, replacing Conor Bradley.
Bradley is another youngster who’s been in top form but the Liverpool manager will not want to risk him against the pacey Marcus Rashford.
Jarell Quansah and Virgil Van Dijk will start in central defence and even though this pairing worked really well against Man City if Liverpool cannot gain control of midfield on Sunday then the back line will have hard a time dealing with Hojlund, Garnacho and co.
However, Manchester United are in dismal form this season and if Liverpool can fend off Guardiola’s Man City, it shouldn’t be too big of an ask to beat this disjointed United team.
