Salah injury ´is nothing serious´, says Liverpool boss Klopp

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp eased concerns match-winner Mohamed Salah suffered an injury setback after the forward limped off against Tottenham.

The Egypt international missed two weeks of action after hurting his ankle at the start of October, forcing him out of last week’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United.

Salah was back in the team for Liverpool’s 4-1 Champions League win over Genk on Wednesday and started Sunday’s meeting with Tottenham, scoring in both games.

However, the 27-year-old experienced further discomfort with his ankle in the 2-1 comeback win and was replaced by Joe Gomez five minutes from time.

Virgil van Dijk also picked up a knock but Klopp allayed fears of a lay-off for either player.

B O S S  pic.twitter.com/fi6vtNrSS8

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 27, 2019

“Virgil has got a dead leg. It’s painful but he will be fine,” he told Sky Sports. “Mo’s problem is his ankle – it got sore the longer the game went on, but it is not a massive issue.

“It makes no sense to try to push it through. We have other players and we had options to change it and we did.

“It’s nothing serious. It’s not massive – it will disappear one day, but it’s still a bit there at the moment.”

Harry Kane gave Tottenham the lead inside 47 seconds at Anfield, but Jordan Henderson’s strike early in the second half broke the visitors’ resistance and Salah secured Liverpool’s 12th successive home league win from the penalty spot.

Klopp was pleased with the way his side remained calm after their early setback, with Paulo Gazzaniga producing a number of fine saves prior to their breakthrough moment.

10 – Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League games when conceding the first goal at Anfield (W7 D3), winning each of the last six. Fortitude. #LIVTOT pic.twitter.com/AgGCV6E8PS

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 27, 2019

“We started well but the way we conceded was a bit unlucky,” he said. “Tottenham then defended well, their counter-attacks were incredible. 

“But we weren’t nervous. We just followed the plan, doing everything in the right way.

“Their goalkeeper made some incredible saves, but we stayed calm. At half-time we said this game only had one problem: the score. There were one or two things we could do better and adapt a little bit.”

Liverpool caused Tottenham issues with their counter-pressing, especially in the build-up to the incident that saw Serge Aurier foul Sadio Mane for the decisive penalty.

Klopp added at his post-match news conference: “The second goal is a sensational counter-press from Sadio, having the ball, losing it twice, coming on to the opponent and then the defender kicks your calf. That’s a super situation.

“We won the game, deserved it and I’m really happy about the performance.”