Liverpool handed major injury blow ahead of ‘tough’ Newcastle United test

Speaking ahead of his side’s trip to Tyneside, Klopp revealed that, despite hopes he may be back in-time for the game, Roberto Firmino will definitely not be available to face Newcastle United:

“Roberto is not a serious injury but it is taking a little longer than we and Bobby first thought.” Klopp said. “He will not be available for tomorrow.”

“Bobby hasn’t trained yet and we have to get further information and find a way to get him back.”

Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas are also unavailable to face the Magpies who could make it five wins on the bounce if they manage to secure an unlikely victory over the Reds.

To do that, they will have to beat the only side with a better Premier League record in 2022 than themselves.

Newcastle’s transformation under Eddie Howe has been huge as he has guided them from relegation certainties to a place this weekend where they could seal their survival in the league with three games left to spare.

Klopp believes Howe deserves tremendous praise for this transformation and cheekily suggested one other man who should also take some credit:

“They’ve evolved a lot and are on an incredible run. Our analysis meetings start and I usually see the last ten or twelve results, it’s green when you win and red when you don’t, there results are green, green, green, some red, then lots of green again.

“They are obviously in a really good moment and Eddie has played a massive part in it.

“They signed one of our analysts, that’s for sure a big part of it as well. Mark [Leyland] if you see this, we’re going to play a completely different team.” Klopp joked.

“They’re doing really well and they’ve signed a few good players, the power now at Newcastle [means] there will be a lot of change [in the future], but for this season they’ve brought in some smart moves, really good players.

“They’ve got stability with the players that were there before who have grown into really confident figures as well.

“It’s really good to see what little changes can make and it will be a difficult one for us.”

A win for Liverpool would move them to the summit of the division, however, any dropped points could open the door for Manchester City to pounce.

The game feels eerily similar to one at the end of the 2018/19 season which turned out to be Rafa Benitez’s last home game in charge of the Magpies.

Klopp also sees similarities and is expecting a ‘tough’ game in-front of a loud home support:

“It’s similar to a few seasons ago when we played between a semi-final at Newcastle and Divock Origi scored - it was a tough game.

“It was one of those games where I didn’t understand what was Newcastle’s problem? Why do they not like us so much? The whole stadium was on fire and we expect that as well tomorrow.

“It will be tough but we have to make sure we are ready for that.

“We have our targets as well, we know we need results and we have to perform.”