'I haven't thought for a second about Arsenal's injuries'
Jürgen Klopp has not 'thought for a second' about how Arsenal's injury problems could affect Sunday's clash at Emirates Stadium.
Liverpool begin their Premier League campaign with a trip to north London this weekend, with the Gunners set to be without three of their regular options at centre-back.
Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista both suffered injuries during pre-season, and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger also ruled Laurent Koscielny out in his pre-match press conference on Friday, indicating that the French defender is not yet match fit following his extended break in the aftermath of Euro 2016.
However, speaking at his own media briefing, Reds boss Klopp insisted the performance of his own team is his only concern.
“I’ve no idea exactly what they will do - they have [Rob] Holding and a few of the other guys from last year. I think [Nacho] Monreal played centre-half one or two times [last season] and [Kieran] Gibbs can play full-back,” Klopp said.
“Maybe they’ll bring a few other players back this week or over the next few weeks and then their problems are not so big anymore. But defensive problems only play a role in a game when the other team is really strong offensively.”
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Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil were also afforded extra time off over the summer due to their exertions at the Copa America and Euros, which has led to speculation that Sunday may come too soon for the Gunners duo.
But Klopp made it clear that Liverpool will not drop their guard, regardless of who starts for Arsenal.
“Sanchez played [in pre-season], Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla - they have a lot of wonderful players for their offensive play and it’s only one game. It’s not like they have to play the whole season with this team, or we have to play the whole season with this team,” the German continued.
“For this one game, it plays not a big role, but the first mistake we can make is to think they have defensive problems.
“We haven’t thought for a second about this, we only think about our play and our game and what we saw in their games from pre-season - their style of play, how they defend, how they attack.”
Klopp’s only meeting with the Gunners as Reds manager came at Anfield in January, when Joe Allen’s injury-time equaliser earned his side a 3-3 draw.
Arsenal employed a more direct style of play than usual on that occasion - a detail that has not eluded the boss as he prepares for this weekend’s match.
“We know Arsenal is a football playing team, but last time they played against us it was a lot of long balls, always [Olivier] Giroud, second ball, Ozil, and that caused us a lot of problems," Klopp added.
“That’s what we think about, and not the kind of problems they could have.”