More

    Illness sidelines Van Dijk while Klopp replaces Salah for Chelsea trip.

    Virgil van Dijk has been ruled out of Liverpool’s Premier League trip to Chelsea due to illness and Mohamed Salah has found himself unexpectedly on the bench as Jurgen Klopp made six substitutions for his side.

    Van Dijk is reported to have missed training due to feeling unwell ahead of Tuesday’s game at Stamford Bridge, where Liverpool are looking to snap a three-match losing streak on either side of the international break.

    The defender previously missed seven games with a hamstring injury in January and February, and in his absence the Reds suffered demoralizing defeats to Brighton & Hove Albion and the Wolves.

    Van Dijk isn’t the only conspicuously absent player in Klopp’s west London starting line-up: Salah joined Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson as they dropped to the bench.

    Joe Gomez and Konstantinos Tsimikas replaced a pair of cornerbacks, while Curtis Jones, Joel Matip, Darwin Nunez and Roberto Firmino were replaced, as well as Harvey Elliott and Cody Gakpo.

    Meanwhile, Chelsea’s interim manager Bruno Saltor replaced the side twice as they kicked off Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa, leading to the sacking of Graham Potter.

    N’Golo Kante will captain Chelsea in his first Premier League start since last August and Wesley Fofana will be the second player to be introduced by former Brighton & Hove Albion full-back Bruno.

    Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mikhail Mudrik are both named on the bench after the start of the loss to Villa, which left Chelsea stuck in the bottom half of the Premier League.

    Related articles

    Comments

    Leave a Reply

    Share article

    Latest articles