Virgil van Dijk believes Luis Diaz is expected to be fit to face Burnley

Virgil van Dijk believes Luis Diaz will be fit for selection as Liverpool prepare to take on Burnley at Turf Moor later today.

The Colombian attacker was substituted in the second half against Arsenal after seemingly suffering a knock and was expected to miss the Premier League clash against the Clarets. However, Van Dijk has eased fears that Diaz could face a spell on the sidelines, but the Liverpool defender did deliver a rather discouraging fitness update on Kostas Tsimikas, who broke his collarbone against the Gunners.

He said (quotes via Liverpool Echo): "Lucho (Luis Diaz), I think he had a knock on the knee but he should be fine, let's see. Kostas looked more serious injury than everyone hoped.

Liverpool are coming on the back of successive Premier League draws against Manchester United and Arsenal and will look to return to winning ways as games continue to come thick and fast in the festive period. Van Dijk believes things need to change in terms of the fixture congestion in European football, with the number of games continuing to increase with each passing season.

He added: "We have to find consistency and I think we are finding that at the moment we just take each game as they come. We do everything around the games that we can in order to be as good as we can and so far so good.

"It’s only one session in between [games]. If you (the press) say it is ['bonkers'] then it might be true but obviously, everyone has been talking about it and the manager has been saying these things (about the fixture pile-up). I’ve been saying these things as well in the past and things have to change in my opinion. But listen, it gives entertainment to the people and we have to just be ready."

The Dutch international is set to start at the heart of the Reds' backline alongside Ibrahima Konate, with Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold making up the rest of the defence.