Klopp Talk: Watford Defeat Won’t Influence Chelsea Lineup

After suffering the disappointment of their first loss of the Premier League season against Watford on the weekend, Liverpool are back into the action quickly with a mid-week FA Cup tie against Chelsea.

It will be a chance for the Reds to bounce back; to show their resiliency following a rare setback. There’s a question, though, when it comes to who it will be who gets a chance to respond to Saturday’s defeat.

“The defeat has absolutely nothing to do with the line-up for tomorrow,” manager Jürgen Klopp said when asked if it would be an all senior squad or if there would be some youth involved on Tuesday.

Klopp refused to be drawn any deeper into the question, saying that as Liverpool “have no clue what Chelsea are doing,” he wasn’t going to tell the Blues what his plans are for Liverpool’s FA Cup lineup.

However, the expectation of many is that the manager will field a strong and fairly senior squad, albeit one with space for a few youth players—the likes of Curtis Jones and Neco Williams, perhaps.

One young name that won’t be involved, though, is Harvey Elliott, with the young attacker off with the U19s facing Benfica in UEFA’s youth league. On the flip side, both James Milner and Joe Gomez have been passed fit.

“We always play the team that gives us the best opportunity to go to the next round,” Klopp added. “That can be for different reasons—the physical demands of the season, when are the games, fitness levels.

“It was always like this with the exception of the last replay against Shrewsbury. Apart from that it has always been the same and it will be like this now as well.”