Tottenham v Liverpool: Team news
Jürgen Klopp remains unsure whether Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Curtis Jones will be available for Sunday’s meeting with Tottenham Hotspur.
Liverpool are awaiting confirmation of the trio’s suspected positive COVID-19 tests, which were returned prior to Thursday’s 3-1 win over Newcastle United.
Van Dijk, Fabinho and Jones are in isolation and therefore missed the match against Eddie Howe’s team.
Klopp told the media on Friday afternoon: “No, it’s not confirmed yet. It’s an ongoing process, let me say it like this, but they are not there. They are fine apart from that.
“In this moment, nobody else [is] positive but it’s pretty early still and the players come a bit later, so we will see.”
Klopp reported no new injury concerns in the aftermath of the victory over Newcastle, but Divock Origi has not featured since scoring the winner at San Siro earlier in the month and Nathaniel Phillips is out with a fractured cheekbone sustained during that success over AC Milan.
Harvey Elliott (ankle) and Adrian (calf) are sidelined.
Sunday’s game will be Tottenham’s first for two weeks following COVID outbreaks within their own squad and that of Leicester City, who they were supposed to face on Thursday.
Head coach Antonio Conte said on Friday: “When the players are back from COVID, for sure you have to pay great attention.
“You can’t give them the same charge of work as other players. You have to pay attention. If you want everything very soon, you risk injuries. In this situation you have to take the risk and at the same time pay great attention. They need time to be fit.
“Also, before picking the starting XI you have to take into consideration all of this. For instance, to start with one player and after 60 or 70 minutes change him with one player who had COVID.
“In this situation, it’s important to have patience and take the right risk. Every one of us would like to pick the best players, the best starting XI, but they need a bit of time to have good form, to be fit and not risk an injury. Otherwise it would be a disaster.”
Cristian Romero is out but Giovani Lo Celso has returned to training, while Conte expects Sergio Reguilon to be back in team training on Saturday.
The Spurs boss continued: “Sergio until today trained apart but he’s ready to have the training session with us tomorrow and the player is comfortable to be back in training with us.
“I hope that tomorrow he’s totally recovered but today Sergio was happy. His feeling was good.”
Last match
Tottenham 3-0 Norwich City (December 5): Lloris, Sanchez, Davies, Dier, Tanganga, Reguilon, Hojbjerg, Skipp, Son, Moura, Kane.
Liverpool 3-1 Newcastle United (December 16): Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Konate, Robertson, Henderson, Thiago, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mane, Salah, Jota.