The Absence Explanation: Virgil van Dijk's Unavailability for Liverpool's FA Cup Showdown against Arsenal
Jurgen Klopp confirmed that Virgil van Dijk, the Liverpool captain, was unable to participate in the FA Cup third round duel with Arsenal on Sunday due to illness.
The absence of the defender from the Reds team that faced Arsenal came as a surprise, as Ibrahima Konate and 20-year-old Jarell Quansah took over the central defence roles.
Klopp disclosed during a chat with BBC Sport that the Dutch defender had a virus which made him unavailable:
'Van Dijk is ill. We might say we have been somewhat fortunate in the last two or three weeks because numerous staff members were sick, but not the players.
'However, Virgil got the virus, so we have to wait and see how he feels tomorrow and whether he'll be ready for the next match. There was no possibility of him playing today, so we didn’t even make the attempt.'
Despite their leader's ill health, Liverpool's defence performed remarkably at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, keeping a clean sheet, particularly thanks to a stunning performance from man of the match Konate. Klopp expressed his admiration for the centre-backs' performance during the victory at his press conference after the match:
'Excellent job,' Klopp commended. 'Oh my word, the hardest moment was when Ibou was injured and then Jarell and hurt his back a little bit. I honestly thought that was going to be a major setback at the start of the game.
Konate and Quansah performed admirably and Joey [Gomez] was once again strong with Trent providing exceptional support. You also have Ali [Alisson Becker] for those crucial moments, which is always a plus.'
On the question of Van Dijk's likelihood of participating in Liverpool's first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Fulham on Wednesday night, Klopp expressed optimism that the defender would recover:
'He is sick. We're hopeful he'll recover by Wednesday, but we can't be certain. He came over and was looking pretty unwell, so we sent him back.'
