Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Virgil van Dijk is a major doubt for tomorrow’s clash against Chelsea.

The Dutch international was substituted against Southampton last week with a bruised rib and sat out the Carabao Cup tie against the Blues midweek to help him recover from the injury.

However, at his pre-match press conference today, Klopp confirmed that van Dijk still hasn’t trained ahead of the match at Stamford Bridge:

“With Virgil we have to wait. He hasn’t trained so far with the team but I can’t say any more about that. Virgil is a world-class player, there’s no doubt about that. And if you miss a world-class player, it’s always not cool.”

Dejan Lovren or Joel Matip are the two candidates to replace the 27-year-old if the centre-back is not fit to play. The pair started Liverpool’s 2-1 loss to Chelsea on Wednesday, but it’s likely only one will start tomorrow.

Joe Gomez is likely to be recalled after being rested against both Southampton and the Blues. Matip would be the favourite to partner him in defence.

The Cameroon international has started the last two games, while Lovren has only recently returned to full fitness after a pelvis injury.