Jurgen Klopp was forced to leave Adam Lallana out of his 18-man matchday squad for the trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers because the midfielder has been suffering from a virus.
David Lynch of The Evening Standard reported prior to kick-off that the England international was not in contention to face Wolves at Molineux, owing to illness.
Twitter: Adam Lallana absent due to a virus. (@LynchStandard)
Jordan Henderson, who opened the scoring, accompanied Georginio Wijnaldum and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the middle of the park, while Fabinho, Curtis Jones and Takumi Minamino occupied places on the bench in Lallana’s absence.
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The former Southampton star had come off the bench in Liverpool’s previous three Premier League outings, with his most-recent top-flight start coming in the 1-0 win over Wolves at Anfield on December 29.
Read Liverpool’s verdict
We think that Lallana has been decent when Klopp has called upon him so far this season, but he does not get into Liverpool’s strongest midfield.
Henderson has particularly impressed us this season with some imperious displays in the middle of the park, and his thumping header beyond Rui Patricio in the first half of the clash at Molineux further put him into the limelight.
Similarly, we think that Wijnaldum has been in excellent form, and Liverpool’s midfield continues to emerge as one of Europe’s most prominent.
The third starting berth, however, is up for grabs, in our opinion. Lallana will have rued missing out on the trip to Wolves, as the likes of Naby Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain are his competitors for the role, with Fabinho still coming back from injury.
Lallana’s contract comes to an end in the summer, and while we have been impressed with him at times this season – most notably in the away win against Tottenham Hotspur recently – we think he’ll need to have an impressive second half of the campaign to warrant an extension.
