Joel Matip ruled out of Liverpool’s clash with Leicester City

Liverpool will be without the services of Joel Matip for the visit of Leicester City.

The Cameroon defender missed our Champions League win over RB Salzburg and was expected to feature against the Foxes.

However, Jurgen Klopp confirmed in his pre-match press conference that Matip wouldn’t be fit for the tie.

Joe Gomez should be playing in place of the centre-back, but the Englishman didn’t have a great outing against RB Salzburg.

The Englishman made some mistakes at the back, and it will be interesting to see how we deal with Leicester.

Matip had been excellent this season for the Reds and is possibly the best centre-back after Virgil van Dijk.

Klopp fears Vardy

The manager added that Gomez wasn’t to be completely blamed for the three goals we conceded against Salzburg and was wary of the threat possessed by Jamie Vardy.

The Leicester striker has troubled us before and can get behind our defence too. The forward already has five goals to his name, and we need to be careful in dealing with him.

Klopp commented on Vardy’s ability to get behind the defence, but also warned Liverpool to ensure such situations don’t happen.

This will be a tough test for our backline that hasn’t been as tight as last season. We haven’t kept too many clean sheets and are providing chances to the opposition too easily.

Hopefully, things improve for us tomorrow as we head into the international break at the top of the table.

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A win will ensure a minimum five-point lead over Manchester City, however, that could drop down to two points if we lose and Pep Guardiola’s side take advantage of that.