Jurgen Klopp has provided an injury update on the absent Liverpool defender.
Virgil van Dijk will miss Liverpool’s home fixture against Aston Villa after being shown a red card against Newcastle.
The Dutchman’s controversial sending off split opinion among fans after he was adjudged to have caught Newcastle striker Alexander Isak and denied the home side a goalscoring opportunity.
But due to the sending off being non-violent, it will only be a one game ban for the Liverpool captain.
Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp has confirmed he expects Ibrahima Konate to make his return from injury after the upcoming international break.
The French centre-back was named as a doubt ahead of today’s Premier League fixture with Newcastle United and missed out on the matchday squad, Joel Matip instead stepping in to partner Van Dijk.
Liverpool, already short of options in this position, will be hoping the former RB Leipzig defender is not out of action for a lengthy period of time but will not be seeing Konate return to the starting eleven until at least the middle of next month.
Issuing an update on the fitness of the 24-year-old, Klopp told Sky Sports: “Not too serious, but serious enough. Maybe a chance for Villa, but I expect him to be back after the international break.”
Klopp also explained why Diogo Jota was dropped to the bench ahead of kick-off, instead favouring Cody Gakpo to lead the line at St James’ Park. “Diogo [Jota] couldn’t train yesterday,” said the German. “We had a really important session from a tactical point of view, he had a little cold or whatever, that a few players had this week, that meant he couldn’t train.”
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