Jurgen Klopp claims the lack of players available for team selection due to the virus means that managers are having to take tough decisions on who to play in fixtures.

Both Naby Keita and James Milner were forced into action in the 2-2 draw against Tottenham after spending long spells on the sidelines, while Klopp used the example of Chelsea’s bench for the Wolves game to provide another example:

“I saw the bench today at Chelsea for Thomas. Come on, he has to play Kovavic who has just come back from a long-term injury and for us it is exactly the same. James Milner and Naby Keta didn’t play 90 minutes for ages and today played through and I have to ask them if they are ready for Wednesday (against Leicester City).”

“All these things, that is what we are thinking about. There are big things we all have to talk about, can we carry on or not? If we carry on, it cannot be like usual.”

The Blues were actually unable to fill their bench (fielding only six substitutes) as they were reluctant to select Under 23 players due to the risk of spreading infections to the academy setup.

Liverpool’s own squad has not been hit as bad as Chelsea’s so far, with only four confirmed cases (Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Curtis Jones and Thiago) but that may change before they face Leicester in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.

It is far from an ideal situation and Premier League clubs are holding a meeting today to decide whether a whole round of fixtures should be postponed to help teams manage their squads.