Alisson, Joel Matip & Roberto Firmino out of Arsenal trip

Liverpool will be without Alisson, Joel Matip and Roberto Firmino on Thursday evening for the EFL Cup semi-final against Arsenal, taking place at the Emirates Stadium, after the Reds confirmed on their website all three had picked up covid.

The newest covid variant, Omicron, has caused havoc within the footballing sphere with games getting postponed left, right and centre and players having to withdraw from matchday squads to enter periods of isolation.

Indeed, that is what is happening at Liverpool at the moment with Jurgen Klopp having to miss the trip to Chelsea at the weekend, too, and he'll be joined by Alisson, Joel Matip and Roberto Firmino in having to stay away from north London on Thursday in the first leg of the semi-final.

Hopefully, there will be no further positive cases to rear their heads between now and the match itself as the squad is already stretched further than it was at Stamford Bridge with Naby Keita, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane all heading to AFCON.

Anfield Watch Verdict

With the Premier League title race currently heavily in Manchester City's favour, this competition is a good chance for the Reds to still record silverware this season and hopefully we'll see as strong a line-up as possible named for the clash at the Emirates Stadium.

Of course, there will be some players missing but the Reds should still be able to name a strong enough XI to give Arsenal something to think about, as the eight-time winners of the competition look to get themselves an early advantage with an away victory before the second leg at Anfield next week.