Enter, Dejan Lovren.
He has only made one appearance for them so far.
And what a debut it was, scoring a late winner against local rivals Everton in the FA Cup.
But Liverpool will be without their £75m centre-back for this afternoon’s clash against Manchester City as he is suffering from a tight hamstring.
Big blow for #LFC. Van Dijk set to miss today's game v Man City…… https://t.co/itsIORHhJW
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) January 14, 2018
The league leaders’ fans indulged in a bit of schadenfreude, knowing Liverpool will be hugely weakened by Van Dijk’s absence.
https://twitter.com/ammrmqree/status/952498119295430656
Liverpool fans, on the other hand, are significantly less optimistic about their chances today since the news broke. Dejan Lovren exactly doesn’t fill them with confidence…
Lovren. Just fucking great. 🤬🤬🤬
— Soph (@feesaysrelax) January 14, 2018
https://twitter.com/FirminoFalse9/status/952499845641785344
— Soph (@feesaysrelax) January 14, 2018
https://twitter.com/SS_LFC/status/952496754842394625
van Dijk will miss today’s game with a hamstring injury pic.twitter.com/BDMYTVzEzM
— Its painful being Zimbabwean (@Saint_Oswald) January 14, 2018
“Virgil Van Dijk set to miss today's game with a tight hamstring.” pic.twitter.com/kZ66kqgSIP
— LEWIS (@lewislowbridge) January 14, 2018
Liverpool did of course beat City at Anfield last season with a central defensive partnership of Dejan Lovren and Ragnar Klavan. An early header from Gini Wijnaldum was enough to give Klopp’s men the win.
They were also without the recently departed Philippe Coutinho in that fixture too.
City have improved since then, but so have Liverpool, with Mo Salah firing all cylinders.
Despite Van Dijk’s absence and City’s unbeaten record this season, this afternoon’s game is far from a foregone conclusion. Liverpool will have to make up for their defensive shortcomings by exposing Man City’s weaknesses.
The last time the sides met, at the Etihad in September, the game was evenly poised before Sadio Mané’s red card for dangerous play. Salah had been successfully targeting Nicolas Otamendi but the red card completely changed the balance of the match.
The ‘Pool will look to do the same again and hope it pays off this time, in what should be an enthralling encounter.
