Jurgen Klopp insists that "everything is fine" with Mohamed Salah despite benching him for Liverpool's trip to Arsenal.
The 29-year-old picked up an injury during the Reds' 2-0 victory over Brighton on Saturday, having scored a penalty just four minutes earlier. As Salah limped off on the south coast and subsequently missed Monday's training session, doubts began to grow over whether or not the Liverpool star would make the trip to north London.
But Salah was able to recover and do just that - although not enough to make Klopp's starting XI. "He made it, he just had one training session, everything was fine and is fine. He can come on really good," the Reds boss told Sky Sports pre-match. "We have the opportunity to [make changes]. Naby Keita is in a really good moment but we have the opportunity to make these changes so we need to use the boys when they are ready.
" Thiago [Alcantara] is ready. I thought it would be the right one for today. We need to be compact, closing the right gaps and defend them in our way. Hopefully, we can do that."
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta had his say on the forward's absence from the off, adding: "It needs constant attention. With the players they have they can play in different formations and ways so I don't think that will make a difference. We know the importance of the match. We play at home against a big opponent and we need that big performance.
"There will be periods in the game where they have more of the ball so hopefully we can replicate that. There are a lot of things you have to do well against a team like Liverpool. It's a big game for us as well. Three points will take us closer to what we want - so that's the aim."
The match itself is a "big one" for Klopp and co. with the opportunity to cut Manchester City's lead at the top of the Premier League to just one point while drawing level on games played. "Expect Arsenal to really go for it," the German noted. They are obviously in a really good moment and good position.
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"If you had asked them at the start of the season what they want, it would have been to qualify for the Champions League with this wonderful young team. We have our own targets and hope to cause them problems. The good thing with how we always see it is as good as the teams are in shape [their form], they have not played us. So hopefully we can stop them tonight."
Klopp had commented on Salah's all-around physical shape and "durability" ahead of the game, telling a news conference on Tuesday: "On top of that, there's a statistic – I don't know exactly who did it – that Mo is the one player with the least fouls against him – but not that he didn't get fouled, it's just we don't whistle.
"If you compare it to other strikers, it's crazy. It's absolutely crazy how low his number of fouls is against him which the ref whistles. So it means he constantly has contact, going down and you have to go up again, and stuff like this. It's not only luck obviously because he's probably in since 9am – I'm not sure, have a look for his car.
"But he's very professional and very desperate to play each game. So when you ask him [about] the nine games and maybe I left him out once or twice so he didn't start the game, so these things are really hard for him. He tries to be on the pitch in training and in games if somehow possible."
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