Fabinho delights Klopp
Brazil midfielder Fabinho impressed Jürgen Klopp enough in central defence in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Brighton to reassure the Liverpool manager he can be a reliable stop-gap partner for Virgil van Dijk.
Croatian Dejan Lovren added to the problems in central defence when the World Cup finalist suffered a hamstring injury in the FA Cup defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers last week.
Joe Gomez is still out with a foot injury although Cameroon international Joel Matip has returned to training after recovering from a broken collarbone. Klopp, though, enthused over Fabinho’s performance against an admittedly limited Brighton attack which leaves his side seven points clear of Manchester City, although the champs can reduce it to four if they beat Wolves later on Monday.
“He’s a brilliant player and I’m happy he can play [against Brighton] – it’s now pretty clear [he can play defence],” said Klopp. “It’s not like it came one attack after the other from Brighton. We had the ball most of the time, so it makes sense to have a good footballer in that position. He did well [dealing with the high ball].
“He has a defending brain and can do it in different positions.” Klopp is also hopeful his young full-back Trent AlexanderArnold has not damaged his ankle too badly.
The England international failed to start against Brighton after turning his ankle when warming up. –