Both Jurgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders recently tested positive
Thursday’s league cup tie between Liverpool and Arsenal has been postponed after the EFL approved Liverpool’s request to delay the fixture due to a high number of Covid-19 cases within the camp.
The Reds were without their manager Jurgen Klopp for their thrilling 2-2 draw with Chelsea on Sunday, with assistant manager Pep Lijnders taking control from the dugout.
The club then announced on Wednesday morning that Lijnders had returned a suspected positive test, meaning their pre-match press conference and training sessions both had to be cancelled.
This comes after Alisson Becker, Roberto Firmino and Joel Matip all missed the Chelsea game after testing positive.
Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders has tested positive for Covid-19 🚨
The club had already submitted a request to postpone their EFL Cup tie with Arsenal on Thursday before the test results came back pic.twitter.com/XFEqDJdosj
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) January 5, 2022
An EFL statement read: “The first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final between Arsenal and Liverpool scheduled for Thursday 6 January 2022 has been postponed following a formal request by Liverpool due to a severe outbreak of COVID infections amongst their management and playing staff.
“The EFL has been in regular dialogue with the Club over the past 48 hours in an attempt to understand whether the tie could proceed but significant developments over this period have resulted in the Club reporting an ever-increasing number of COVID cases.
“Having now fully reviewed the circumstances involved, the League has accepted Liverpool’s request after determining, albeit reluctantly, that a postponement was the only option as the Club looks to mitigate against the further risk of infection amongst its squad and staff alongside ensuring public health was protected by not travelling from Liverpool to London.”
The first leg will now take place at Anfield on 13 January, with the return leg following a week later at the Emirates Stadium on 20 January.
Liverpool’s FA Cup fixture against Shrewsbury on January 9th is still scheduled to take place.
