Liverpool without Nathaniel Clyne and Lucas Leiva out of FA Cup replay at Plymouth
Harry Wilson could make Reds' debut in third-round tie while Loris Karius will start in goal.
Liverpool will continue to be without full-back Nathaniel Clyne and midfielder Lucas Leiva for the FA Cup third-round replay against Plymouth Argyle. England international Clyne missed his first Premier League game of the season at Manchester United with a rib injury, while Lucas was not named in the squad for the clash at Old Trafford due to a knee problem.
Jurgen Klopp is expected to ring the changes for the return game at Home Park, which comes just days before Swansea City's visit to Anfield. A host of youngsters may be called upon to start the game and send the club into the fourth round after they were frustrated by the League Two side for long periods of the first game, which ended 0-0.
The rash of changes may have provided Lucas the opportunity to make a rare start for Liverpool this term, though Clyne may have been rested having been the first choice right-back under Klopp. Nevertheless, alongside longer-term injury victims Adam Bogdan, Danny Ings and Marko Grujic – the pair will be unavailable.
"It's getting better," Klopp said of Clyne's injury, according to the official Liverpool website. "With Nathaniel, it was a muscle between the ribs. Everybody who has ever bruised their ribs knows OK, sometimes you think it's better broken. It's really painful, but now we know after a scan that there is nothing else and each day helps him to settle and get back on the pitch, if you want.
"So we give him for sure, we have to, two or three more days and then hopefully he can start running and all that stuff. He is, how everyone can imagine - he made nearly all the games since I'm in and before, probably, [he's] one of the hardest we have so the first second when it's possible he's out there. He has a big chance, I think, for Swansea."
"It's similar to Lucas. His knee was swollen and that's never a good sign, but in this case it was on the better side of the bad news. Again it's only a bruise but then you have to wait until the swelling is away and wait for if something is coming back and all that stuff, and that's what we did. He's very positive, so maybe he can be on the pitch today, I'm not sure, we will see. If [he is], we will try to push it as hard as we can."
Klopp will again rotate his goalkeepers with summer signing Loris Karius replacing Simon Mignolet for the resumption of Liverpool's cup campaign. Meanwhile, Harry Wilson could make his debut for the club after he was left out of the Under-23 match against United on Monday (16 January).
"Yes. He is a wonderful young player," the Liverpool boss said of Wilson, according to the Liverpool Echo. He's part of our thoughts for this game." "We have a few! In a few moments I was impressed. In our situation we had to keep a few players out of the game yesterday. It didn't help the game yesterday. Apologies to U23. My fault!"
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