Jurgen Klopp has praised Mikel Arteta as ‘exceptional’ and has discussed Liverpool’s ‘false positives’ ahead of the club’s Carabao Cup semi-final with Arsenal.
Liverpool host the north London side in the first leg of their last four encounter, having seen the original first leg at the Emirates postponed last week amid a series of positive Covid-19 cases with the Reds’ squad.
Klopp is anticipating a ‘tricky’ encounter against an Arsenal side who have shown signs of improvement in recent weeks, hailing the ‘exceptional job’ Arteta is doing with the Gunners.
“Mikel is doing an exceptional job there, having a lot of young boys in and a front three which is really exciting to watch,” he told his pre-match press conference.
“He has a clear idea, I think they have improved a lot between then and now. It’s a tricky draw.”
The German also spoke on the order of the ties being reversed, with Liverpool having originally been scheduled to play the second leg on home soil.
Klopp believes the change ‘makes a difference’ but says his side must adapt to the reversal following last week’s postponement.
“Of course it makes a difference, especially with the power Anfield can produce,” he said. “But we cannot change that. We couldn’t play last Thursday, that’s why we have to take it like it is.”
Klopp also discussed Liverpool’s Covid situation, after it was revealed the Reds had a large number of ‘false positives’ ahead of the initial clash with Arsenal.
There will be no investigation despite unhappiness from other clubs, with Trent Alexander-Arnold revealed as the sole player to produce a genuine positive test.
“It’s a positive test,” he said. “When you are able to do a re-test, a day afterwards, it is negative.
“You then need to do a third test. And between the first and second, and the second and third test, we can’t use the players.
“When we got the first results, we had to consider it was the right result.”
