07 January 2024 , 22:13
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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is hopeful Virgil van Dijk will be back in contention to face Fulham on Wednesday after missing the Reds' 2-0 win over Arsenal in the FA Cup.
The Dutchman sat out of Liverpool's trip to the Emirates due to illness. This forced Klopp to start Jarrel Quansah and Ibrahima Konate as the centre-back pairing, with Joe Gomez at left-back and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right side of the back four. Despite Van Dijk's absence, Liverpool went on to progress through to the fourth round of the competition thanks to Jakub Kiwior's own-goal and a late Luis Diaz strike.
However, Klopp will be keen to get Van Dijk back available ahead of Liverpool's Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg tie against Fulham on Wednesday. The Reds host Marco Silva's side at Anfield, but then face an 11-day break before their next fixture, a game against Bournemouth in the Premier League.
When asked if Van Dijk will be available for Liverpool's home game against Fulham, Klopp said: "Yes, I'm hopeful but I don’t know. He came (with us) and it's difficult for Virg to look s*** but he did, so we sent him home.
"We had a few days to prepare for the most difficult game and with a slightly different team and last second Virgil couldn’t play and that didn't help."
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Virgil van Dijk missed Liverpool's trip to Arsenal through illness (Getty Images)Speaking on the performances of Liverpool's two centre-backs against Arsenal, Klopp added: "Top, top. A horrible moment, Ibou was twice down and Jarell goes down and jarred his back and actually I thought that’s it and it would have been really tricky early in the game.
"But he was really good and Joey (Gomez) again good and Trent (Alexander-Arnold) exceptional and Ali (Becker) at moments was helpful as well. In front of that, Macca (Alexis Mac Allister) was really there and Curtis (Jones) wanted to be, for Cody (Gakpo) it was a bit more difficult in a different position.
"We tried to prepare for everything, but did I prepare for a double 10 and high winger? No. More my fault than the boys' fault. We had half-time to see it, to watch it and learn from it in the second half, and the second half was much better."