Virgil van Dijk was ruled out of Liverpool’s Premier League match against Chelsea due to illness, while Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, and Trent Alexander-Arnold were all named to the bench..
Jurgen Klopp made several changes to the team that lost 4-1 to Manchester City on Saturday, with Diogo Jota the only player in the front three to remain.
When healthy, Netherlands defender Van Dijk has been an ever-present this season, missing only seven games at the start of 2023 due to a hamstring injury.
However, Van Dijk missed training in the run-up to Liverpool’s visit to Stamford Bridge and was ruled unfit to play.
In Van Dijk’s absence, Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate form a center-back partnership, with Joe Gomez filling in at right-back and Konstantinos Tsimikas at left-back.
Roberto Firmino, who is set to leave Liverpool at the end of the season, gets a rare Premier League start.
Liverpool are eighth in the Premier League, eight points out of the Champions League places, heading into their match against Chelsea, who fired Graham Potter two days ago.
Potter was only at Stamford Bridge since September, but he was relieved of his duties on Sunday evening after Chelsea dropped into the Premier League’s bottom half..
Blues interim manager Bruno Saltor made two changes for Liverpool’s visit, with N’Golo Kante and Wesley Fofana replacing Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mykhailo Mudryk.
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