Assistant Pep Lijnders tests positive as Liverpool’s Covid concerns increase

Liverpool’s assistant manager Pep Lijnders has become the latest positive Covid-19 case at the club, throwing their Carabao Cup semi-final at Arsenal into further doubt.

With manager Jurgen Klopp and three players – Alisson Becker, Joel Matip and Roberto Firmino – already isolating, Lijnders, who took charge of the team for Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Chelsea, recorded a positive test late on Tuesday night.

That was after Liverpool had made a submission to the EFL to postpone Thursday’s first-leg clash at the Emirates in the wake of further positive cases among the squad and other player availability issues linked to illness and injury.

The club have cancelled their pre-match press conference, at which Lijnders was due to speak, and have no plans to rearrange it.

Liverpool are also missing Thiago Alcantara, Takumi Minamino, Nat Phillips and Harvey Elliott through injury, while Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita are now at the Africa Cup of Nations.