LONDON: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes his side’s crucial match against Chelsea will go ahead on Sunday despite three new coronavirus cases in his camp as another Premier League fixture was called off.
Klopp refused to name the players on Friday as they were awaiting test results but forward Roberto Firmino and goalkeeper Alisson Becker were absent from pictures released by Liverpool of a club training session.
Both sides will regard the match at Stamford Bridge as a must-win game as they seek to keep pace with defending champions Manchester City, who are eight points clear at the top.
“We have three new Covid cases in the team and a few more in the staff so it’s not so cool at the moment,” Klopp said at his pre-match press conference.
“I’m not able to say who it is because we have to do the whole process, get a proper PCR (test), but you will see the day after tomorrow on the team sheet — it will be pretty clear who is affected or infected.”
The German, whose side are third in the table, a point behind Chelsea, added: “We never had this proper outbreak where 15 to 20 players had it. For us it is every day, another one, stuff happens more and more often.
“It’s like a lottery in the morning, waiting for the result. It is pretty much day-by-day, always one case, then another one.
“In this moment (we will) probably not (ask for a postponement) but we don’t know how it will look in a few hours.”
In addition to the three Covid cases, the injured Takumi Minamino and Thiago Alcantara will miss the trip to Chelsea.
Klopp’s comments came as Southampton’s Premier League match at home to Newcastle on Sunday was postponed due to Covid cases in the visitors’ camp.
The game at St. Mary’s is the second in Premier League matchweek 21 to be postponed, following the announcement on Thursday that the New Year’s Day clash between Leicester and Norwich was off.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he was frustrated to miss Saturday’s match against City as he isolates following a second positive test.
“It will be very strange,” said Arteta, whose team are fourth in the table. “I will need a big room so I can walk and move a little bit, because I won’t be able to stand on my sofa.”
The Spaniard, who also had coronavirus in March 2020, added: “It is a big, big game for us and it is a very frustrating thing to not be able to be there helping the team.
“But I will do my best from here, with everything that I can do, and we have prepared for every scenario possible and they know what we have to do.”
Wolves boss Bruno Lage admitted even his players were unsure if they would be fit to face Manchester United on Monday after a virus outbreak forced the postponement of this week’s trip to Arsenal.
“After 10 days without playing, in your mind, to be ready to play is difficult,” said Lage. “Today I was talking with a player and I asked ‘are you ready to play?’
“He said: ‘I really don’t know’. After 10 days without playing and training you are slow to take the right decisions.”
Liverpool’s Klopp confident Chelsea game will go ahead despite Covid chaos
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Liverpool’s Klopp confident Chelsea game will go ahead despite Covid chaos
- Klopp refused to name the players on Friday as they were awaiting test results
- Both sides will regard the match at Stamford Bridge as a must-win game as they seek to keep pace with defending champions Manchester City
Medvedev to face Griekspoor in bid for second Dubai title
- Former world No. 1 Medvedev demolished top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in the semifinal
- Despite an injury, unseeded Dutchman Griekspoor beat 5th-seed Andrey Rublev in the other semifinal
DUBAI: Daniil Medvedev reached the Dubai Tennis Championships final on Friday and will face unseeded Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor as the Russian attempts to achieve something that has eluded him throughout his stellar career — winning the same tournament twice.
Former world number one Medvedev demolished top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 6-2 in an 83-minute semifinal, setting up a title clash that could see him claim a second Dubai crown to go with his 2023 triumph.
Medvedev, who has won 22 titles at 22 different tournaments, arrived in Dubai with a point to prove after early exits in Rotterdam and Doha.
However, the third seed has been in scintillating form in Dubai, dispatching Shang Juncheng, Stan Wawrinka, Jenson Brooksby and Auger-Aliassime — all in straight sets.
“It has been an amazing four matches, probably playing better and better each match, today being the best performance,” said Medvedev.
“If I can put in an even better performance tomorrow, I will have my chances to win and that is what I am going to try to do.”
Griekspoor battles injury to beat Rublev
Standing in his way will be Griekspoor, who continued his giant-killing run by beating fifth seed Andrey Rublev 7-5 7-6(6) in the other semifinal.
The Dutchman denied the 2022 champion, who also finished runner-up the following year, another shot at the Dubai trophy, saving two set points in the second-set tiebreak.
“No idea how I pulled off this one, I could barely walk at the end of the first set,” said Griekspoor, who took a medical timeout for treatment in the opening set.
“He served extremely well. I got very lucky in the tiebreak to win it in two sets ... I landed with a serve and felt something in my hamstring.
“If he had won the tiebreak, I don’t know if I would have continued.”
It marked three consecutive top-20 wins for Griekspoor for the first time in his career after he beat second seed Alexander Bublik and Jakub Mensik en route to the final.
Griekspoor, who has won three ATP 250 titles in his career, will be looking to add a first ATP 500 trophy to his collection when he faces Medvedev.
