Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren is back in contention ahead of Tuesday’s League Cup semi-final against Stoke City at Anfield, but fullback Nathaniel Clyne could miss the game due to a knee injury, manager Juergen Klopp said on Monday.
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Liverpool secured a 1-0 advantage at the Britannia Stadium but Stoke will not give up on their bid to reach a League Cup final for the first time since 1971/72 when they won the only major trophy in their history.
The former Manchester City midfielder will be hoping to help his new team to a Wembley final in the League Cup when they welcome Stoke City for the second leg of the semi-final. We want to defend next to perfection and we have to because Stoke are a really good team.
Potters boss Mark Hughes was far from impressed with his side’s performance against the Premier League leaders and knows they need to improve dramatically if they are to upset the Reds at Anfield. It wasn’t Stoke last season, it was Chelsea, so it’s different and we don’t need to think about that.
“The first 15 minutes I have no words for and we’ve had this situation three or four times this season”. That was good. We will have to see in the next 24 hours what is up with Kolo [Toure] and Mama [Sakho] because [cup-tied] Steven [Caulker] can not play.
For as much as they have struggled historically, the Reds Liverpool is also coming off a stretch of strong play, with eight goals in their last two games – the same amount the team had in their previous eight games.
“They are a huge club, world renowned, and there’s an expectation to roll people over, but we know that’s not always possible”.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have developed a worrying habit of conceding from set plays in recent weeks and have shipped 12 goals in their last seven matches in all competitions. We’ve done it a few times – Newcastle and West Ham were similar.
“From our point of view there’s no grey area, that clarifies it for us”.
In case he fails to recover before the match, Klopp is likely to call upon right-back Jon Flanagan, who made his first appearance for Liverpool during Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Exeter City.
“It’s not about writing off this season, saying “We’ve changed the manager, there’s a lot of changes and let’s go again next year”, he said.
Stoke City captain Ryan Shawcross could be out for up to a month with the back injury that forced him off in Saturday’s 3-0 defeat against Leicester City.
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Marko Arnautovic, who has been carrying a hamstring problem, was not part the squad at the weekend and fellow forward Bojan Krkic was an unused substitute, but both are expected to return to the starting line-up.
