Dejan Lovren has added to Liverpool’s ongoing defensive fitness issues.
Lovren will miss Saturday’s lunchtime encounter with Watford after suffering a muscle injury in the midweek Champions League win over Red Bull Salzburg.
Just days earlier, the Croatia international was withdrawn just 40 minutes into the Reds’ comfortable victory at Bournemouth due to pulling up with cramp.
It means Jurgen Klopp currently has only two senior centre-backs at his disposal, with Joel Matip still recovering from a knee problem picked up in mid-October.
“It’s a concern, how you can imagine,” said the Liverpool manager.
“It’s not the first time we are in a situation like this. Last year, one game Fabinho played at centre-half, unfortunately he is out as well. It’s not too cool.
“In the moment we have two – we should take care of them, pack them in cotton wool and ask them what they want to do in training, ‘Are you ready or not?’
“Apart from that, we have to be creative; we have the kids, of course, with Ki-Jana [Hoever] and Sepp [van den Berg].
“We have defensive-minded midfielders, there are different systems where you can use different kind of defenders as well. That’s how it is.
“In the moment, I have a lot of ideas but I hope for most of them I never have to use them, to be honest.”