Jurgen Klopp has discussed the potential impact of losing Mohamed Salah for Liverpool’s FA Cup clash with Arsenal, with the winger heading off to AFCON.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has already parted ways with his club to head off for the Africa Cup of Nations, with Egypt playing in the tournament this month.
At the very least, this means Salah will miss Liverpool’s FA Cup match against Arsenal on Sunday, but it could also rule him out of the Premier League clash in early February.
That will depend on how far Egypt make it in the tournament, with the Arsenal match scheduled for February 4th and the AFCON quarter-finals set for February 2nd/3rd.
Should Egypt make it that far, Salah will surely be absent. If not, he could return in time for the match.
Speaking about the situation in his press conference on Friday, Jurgen Klopp assessed the impact of Salah’s absence on his team.
“We have to see,” Klopp said. “We have different options and we can change system.
“When Mo is playing it makes sense that we play a specific way so that he can be in his favourite position, he deserves that and he helps us there the most.
“But when he’s not there we have to be creative and maybe we will be. I don’t know what surprises you after all these years but maybe it will! Let’s see.”
“We play Arsenal,” the Liverpool boss continued. “At Arsenal, you can lose with Mo Salah, so it’s possible as well you can lose without him.
“But in the moment we have a chance to win the game so I think we should more think about that.”
With or without Salah, Liverpool will still make tough opponents for Mikel Arteta’s side. But Sunday represents an opportunity for the team to prove they can compete.