Liverpool forced into makeshift defence as Jurgen Klopp confirms Trent Alexander-Arnold blow

Klopp will be without two key defendersLFC TV

Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold is unavailable for this weekend’s clash with Wolves.

The Reds return to Premier League action live on talkSPORT, but will be forced into a makeshift defence.

Klopp will be without two key defendersGetty

Liverpool are already short at the back after captain Virgil van Dijk was suspended for a red card in a 2-1 win over Newcastle.

And their star right back is not yet available either.

“No concern, he’s not available, we knew that before,” Klopp told the media. “He didn’t train with the team once yet and it will take a little bit.

“It’s not the worst hamstring injury you can have, but it’s a hamstring injury, they barely heal in two weeks and this one didn’t either.

“He’s running already but we hope he can start ball work early next week and then we will see, we will go from there.”

Alexander-Arnold’s absence gives Klopp a big headache in defence with Van Dijk still having a game to serve on his red card suspension.

The Dutchman was sent off against Newcastle resulting in a one-game ban, which was served against Aston Villa, but the punishment was extended by a further match for bad language.

In the 3-0 win over Villa, Joel Matip partnered Ibrahima Konate in defence, while Alexander-Arnold was replaced by academy graduate Jarell Quansah in the 71st minute.

“Does it change the dynamic? Not so much, we have to be flexible,” Klopp said about the defensive injuries.

“If you know another passer like Trent who can play his position like him, tell me, because that would be really cool. But it will be fine, it must be fine, we have to adapt to the different skill set of the players.

“The most important thing in his game is defensive stability, and then we can play, you don’t have to think about it.

“Against Aston Villa people were maybe not convinced about our last line and then you saw Joe Gomez and Joel Matip playing at that level, they have that quality and it’s really cool, so that was the key for that game, plus Alexis Mac Allister in front of them played really well. We need defensive stability and then we can play from there.”

Asked about further injury concerns, Klopp added: “Thiago is running, but that’s it. Ibou [Konate] has been training for two days with the team.

“I haven’t seen Darwin [Nunez] yet, we’ve obviously had contact and he is fine, but we will see that now. Darwin should be fine. Stefan [Bajcetic] had a good camp with the [Spain] Under-21s, played only a few minutes, but it helped him.”