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Ricky Charlesworth

The key players Liverpool are sweating over ahead of Leeds United Premier League opener

Liverpool have a number of injury concerns heading into their Premier League opener against Leeds United on Saturday.

The mouth-watering clash at Anfield pits the top flight champions against last season's Championship winners.

For Marcelo Bielsa's side, it is a great chance to start as they mean to go on, and a major test of their top flight credentials.

The hosts go into the game with a clutch of injuries however.

Here, we look at the players either definitely out or in serious doubt for Saturday's meeting.

Jordan Henderson

The hugely influential Reds' skipper is a major doubt for the game.

Henderson, 30, missed the final four games of his side's Premier League season after sustaining a knee injury at Brighton & Hove Albion in July.

And he missed England's recent Nations League double-header.

Klopp recently said that he "will see how he develops" but after a lack of match action in pre-season, it seems that Henderson is most likely to start on the bench.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

The England man suffered a knee injury during the Reds' pre-season tour of Austria.

Klopp is unsure of when the former Arsenal man will be back.

He said: "Really unfortunate. An unfortunate situation as well; it was a challenge [in training].

“It looks like it is very similar to what Hendo had, which keeps him out for we don’t know for sure exactly how long.

“We have to wait but it is far away from being perfect, of course. It is really hard for him and hard for us.”

Other absentees

New signing Konstantinos Tsimikas is definitely out of the game against Leeds.

The £11.5m arrival tested postive for coronavirus while on Nations League duty with Greece.

As such, he will not be in contention as he self-isolates.

The only other worry for Klopp is Xherdan Shaqiri.

The Swiss attacker has picked up a knock, of which no detail has been given.

Those four doubts, coupled with the summer exits of Dejan Lovren and Adam Lallana and the uncertainty over the future of youngster Rhian Brewster, means Klopp's options for the opener will be greatly reduced.

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