Injury-hit Liverpool caught in a precarious situation in their title defence

Jordon Henderson-Jurgen Klopp-Liverpool

A pile of injury issues and the congested schedule is taking a toll on defending Premier League champions.

Liverpool’s title defence is in jeopardy following a stack of injury issues and the congested schedule due to pandemic.

It all started with the narrow win against Leeds in their opening game where Liverpool’s defence created major doubts. The humiliating 7-2 defeat against Aston Villa further justified the case and straightaway many called for the reinforcements in the backline.

However, Virgil van Dijk sustained a season-ending ACL injury during the 2-2 draw against Everton, to make the situation more worse for the Reds.

It didn’t stop there as the likes of  Joel Matip, Fabinho, Thiago and Trent Alexander Arnold got injured in the following games and all of a sudden, Liverpool’s title defence looks in more trouble than ever.

All the happenings could be partly attributed to Jurgen Klopp, who has been reluctant to rotate the squad and not getting the best out of the squad depth. Key players like Firmino, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson are not getting enough rest in the congested schedule, which means Klopp is putting the Reds at bigger risk.

Neco Williams, Xherdan Shaqiri and Diogo Jota have showcased their capabilities even in the limited opportunities, and yet, Klopp looks to be stubborn with the strongest playing eleven.

The three substitutions rule hasn’t gone well with many of Premier League managers, let alone Klopp, but Liverpool’s squad depth is relatively better than many top teams in the league.

The former Borussia Dortmund manager needs to rectify these simplest of the mistakes or else Liverpool’s chances of retaining the title could go awry.