Could Chelsea v Liverpool be next to be postponed? Jurgen Klopp says ‘it’s a lottery waiting for results’ after three Reds players tested positive for Covid, plus ‘a few more staff’ – and admits ‘we will have to wait… it’s happening more’
- Jurgen Klopp has revealed three more Liverpool players tested positive for Covid
- It comes 48 hours before the Reds travel to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea
- Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho , Curtis Jones and Thiago were all recent in isolation
- Klopp is not close to asking for a postponement but warns ‘we will have to wait’
Liverpool are facing another possible Covid outbreak with Jurgen Klopp revealing on Friday that three more members of his squad have tested positive.
It comes 48 hours before the Reds are due to travel to Stamford Bridge to take on Premier League title rivals Chelsea, who are also in the midst of a crisis due to an overload of Covid cases and injuries.
Klopp’s side were without Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Curtis Jones and Thiago Alcantara because of Covid at the start of December and the German revealed three more players have initially tested positive on Friday.
Jurgen Klopp has revealed three more Liverpool players have tested positive for Covid
The German said: ‘We have three new Covid cases in the team, more in the staff.
‘I’m not able to say (who has tested positive) because we still need to do a PCR but you’ll see tomorrow on the team sheet, it’ll be clear.’
Asked if Liverpool were close to asking the Premier League to postpone the fixture, Klopp said: ‘Not yet. We never had this sort of proper outbreak yet, it’s more every day there’s another one.
‘It feels like a lottery in the morning when you are waiting for results.
‘It was now pretty much day by day there would be one case, today another one and now we have to wait. The boys aren’t even in yet.
‘At the moment, probably not (likely to ask for the game to be postponed) but we are not sure how it’ll look like in a few hours.’
Fabinho (left) and Virgil van Dijk (right) have just returned after recently testing positive
Klopp’s side are due to travel to Stamford Bridge to play Premier League title rivals Chelsea
Van Dijk, Fabinho and Jones all rejoined the squad for training on Christmas Eve after their Covid-19 isolation came to an end.
All three were out since missing the 3-1 win over Newcastle on December 16 having tested positive and they returned to the squad for Tuesday night’s defeat at Leicester after Liverpool’s Boxing Day clash with Leeds was called off.
Midfielder Thiago is also out of isolation now but is still sidelined with an ongoing hip injury.
Liverpool will also be without Andy Robertson for the clash at Chelsea as he will be serving the final match of his three-game ban for a red card at Tottenham earlier this month.
Thomas Tuchel will be without a number of Chelsea stars as well due to injuries and Covid
Chelsea have a number of fitness problems of their own, however.
Thomas Tuchel will be without hamstring injury victim Reece James and Ben Chilwell, whose season is over after knee ligament surgery.
Thiago Silva, Andreas Christensen and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are further defensive injury doubts, while Timo Werner remains unwell after testing positive for Covid.
Southampton’s clash with Newcastle became the 18th Premier League game to be called off because of a Covid outbreak on Friday, as clubs continue to row over whether injuries can be included in the number of players available.
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