Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and the issue Liverpool must now solve
Liverpool could not have dreamt of having a better season, given how miserable their last campaign was.
The Reds are three points clear at the top of the Premier League, have reached the knockout stage of the Europa League, are into the fourth round of the FA Cup and are into the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
But boss Jurgen Klopp is facing a issue he will have to solve if his side are to continue their impressive campaign. Trent Alexander-Arnold has been sidelined for several weeks, with Andy Robertson and Dominik Szoboszlai also injured while Mohamed Salah is away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The absence of that quartet leaves Klopp with a huge headache, with those four sitting top of the leaderboard when it comes to the most chances created per 90 minutes this term. In the Premier League alone Salah and Alexander-Arnold have created 29 'big chances'.
That is more than half of Liverpool's overall total of 52, with the next highest in the league being Darwin Nunez on seven. Nunez will likely be one of the players Klopp leans on to replace the creativity of the missing trio.
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Liverpool's club record signing will need to step up, having only contributed five goals and six assists in the top-flight this season. Nunez's fellow attackers will also be called upon, despite Salah being the only forward in the absent quartet.
Reds assistant boss Pep Lijnders has already issued a rallying cry to Nunez, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo to fill the massive empty boots. The Dutchman is confident they can do just that, with Liverpool's hopes of silverware potentially on the line if a solution is not found.
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Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez have been backed to fill the gap left by the sidelined quartet (MICAH CROOK/PPAUK/REX/Shutterstock)"We have many weapons. There's no irreplaceable... Mo goes away, Jota steps up, if the best players are not there and you play really well – [like] in the second half against Arsenal – then that's a good sign. That's a really good sign. That's what we have always done," Lijnders said.
"We don't rely on one, two or three or four players. We're missing probably four or five core players from our leadership group – Robbo [Andy Robertson], Trent, Mo. That's a blow, of course, and he [Alexander-Arnold] creates a lot of flexibility from the back.
"He can play passes that the forwards really like to receive. He has verticality, he knows how to decide games and he always sniffs when to put balls where. The squad has a lot of other qualities, in my opinion, but for sure we need to find new dynamics. We always do that.
"We always search to become better or to evolve the game or to become a more complete team. You see what players you have and you try to build around that. We always search in this way and now we have to find solutions without Trent as well."
Klopp will be hoping that Lijnders is right, with his side facing a crucial run of games in their season. As well as the Carabao Cup semi-final against Fulham, Liverpool will also play their FA Cup fourth round game at the end of the month.
The Reds will also take on Bournemouth, Chelsea and title rivals Arsenal, with all six matches coming while their creative quartet are expected to be sidelined. It is a problem Klopp is unlikely to solve in this month's transfer window, with the boss relying on his squad to step up.
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