Another defensive injury blow for Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool ahead of Brighton clash

Jurgen Klopp's title chasing Liverpool will arrive at an out-of-sorts Brighton this afternoon with an injury doubt hanging over their defender Ibrahima Konaté.

Konate has been regular for the Reds following his £36 million arrival from RB Leipzig last summer and the Frenchman has either played or been on the bench for every other game.

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The 22-year-old was absent for their midweek Champions League clash with Inter Milan as he suffered a knock in the 1-0 Premier League defeat of West Ham last weekend.

Konate may be unavailable as Liverpool look to narrow the six point gap on leaders Man City at Brighton who have lost their last four matches.

Concerns were also raised on his defensive partner Virgil van Dijk who was one of three Liverpool players not pictured during training on Thursday.

The centre-back has made 35 appearances for Liverpool this season after recovering from a long-term knee injury.

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Van Dijk played in Tuesday night’s 1-0 loss to Inter. Klopp admitted there are a few other niggles but the Reds boss was expecting to have a virtually fully-fit squad.

Klopp also hopes the rare feeling of losing to Inter will give his players a wake-up call, with Brighton next on the agenda.

“I didn’t like part of the performance, especially defensively, and that’s a good point to make as if we don’t defend well against Brighton we have a problem,” he added.

“Our counter-press was not even close to what I would have expected and we got punished for it.

“Do I like losing? No. Do I like the fact that if you don’t do what the plan was then you get a knock for it then yes.

“I would have been happy with a draw – that would have been enough of a knock – but we lost.

“But we could have won with all the chances we had. It would have covered a couple of things for this game, problems that we don’t have very often but that we had in that game as we have to stop having these problems."

Enock Mwepu and former Liverpool star Adam Lallana are available for Brighton.

Mwepu has been sidelined since early January with injury and illness and boss Graham Potter is keen to take things steadily, while Lallana returned to training last week.

Adam Webster (groin) is still out while Yves Bissouma has been managing a slight knee problem but should be available.

Potter is delighted to have Lallana back for this one.

“Absolutely. We lost him after Burnley through injury. So he wasn’t available for Aston Villa and only had a bit of training up to Newcastle. He’s had a bit more now so that gives him more of a chance to be involved for longer on the pitch.

“He’s an older player, so therefore he’s got a lot of experience. For the last seven years, he’s been at Liverpool which is a bit of a different experience than what we have here.

“Nevertheless, he brings that experience as a man, as a father, as a player, as a person, and he also brings the quality that he has as a footballer.

“That’s always important for us. On and off the pitch, he’s always contributed.”

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