Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp brought supporters bad news ahead of the game against Burnley on Saturday afternoon. That news was the fact that captain Jordan Henderson will be missing for the rest of the season due to a knee injury he picked up against Brighton on Wednesday.
The skipper was subbed off in the 80th minute for vice captain James Milner in the 3-1 victory away from home. There was growing fears that Henderson was going to miss the start of next season but Jurgen Klopp did ease those fears by saying that no surgery will be needed even though the injury was a ‘mood killer’ for the whole team.
Jordan Henderson was one of the goalscorers against Brighton with a fantastic strike on the edge of the box. He was vital in the midfield not just against Brighton but also when he came on as a substitute against Aston Villa. He adds fluidity, energy and enormous quality in the middle of the park hence why the England International is one of the favourites for a number of player of the year awards.
He will be a difficult loss for Liverpool but thankfully it will only be for four games possibly five with Liverpool taking part in the Community Shield at the start of next season. Thankfully though a certain someone has hit some outstanding form.
That is Naby Keita. He was superb against Brighton pressing from the front winning the ball back and starting attack after attack. The midfielder has been in great form since the restart and will be hoping to keep it up with another start against Burnley on Saturday. If he can stay injury free for the remainder of the season Liverpool may actually start to see the Naby Keita everyone expected when he signed.
Another brilliant individual performance against Brighton was from The Egyptian King. Mohamed Salah was at it from the get go. He scored twice and seemed desperate to get more as he is still in the contention for the golden boot. Realistically he should have got a hat-rick with eight shots overall and five on target. He can be excused of any criticism though as he has 100 goal contributions in just 104 games. He will go down in history as one Liverpool’s greatest ever players and he will be desperate to score more against Burnley.
For the Burnley game Liverpool do have one player back from injury and that is centre back Dejan Lovren. With Joe Gomez having played in every game since the restart and also looking not at his complete best Lovren may get a rare start. It may be a good game for the Croatian to start as he is a physical defender and will back himself against a very physical Burnley side.
There is no doubt that the game will be difficult on Saturday. Sean Dyche continues to work miracles at Turf Moor as The Clarets are still in a hunt for a European Place with a small squad. Klopp said that ‘he seems to be a good guy’ in the press conference for the game even after they have supposedly argued on the sideline in the past. So he is winning over many people.
Dyche will be without a lot of players on Saturday. Captain Ben Mee will be missing for the second game in a row. Also Jack Cork, Matt Lowton and Ashley Barnes will be missing from the team on Saturday. Liverpool will be looking to exploit the fact many key players will be missing but also Klopp and Co will have to keep Dwight McNeil at bay. The youngster has been Burnley’s star man this campaign and may even be looking to impress the staff at Anfield for a potential transfer away.
A tough game for Liverpool but with the likes of Alisson, Van Dijk, Keita and Salah on top form Burnley will be worrying and rightly so. After all, this Liverpool team are on course to break the points total and become one of the best Premier League sides of all time, if they aren’t already.
Written by Elliot Thompson
