Jurgen Klopp return plan as Peter Krawietz drops Liverpool squad hint for Shrewsbury

Liverpool are hopeful that Jurgen Klopp will be back in the dugout for the Reds' FA Cup third round with Shrewsbury Town on Sunday

The German missed his side's draw with Chelsea last weekend after testing positive for Covid-19, and has spent the past week in isolation as a result.

Assistant manager Peter Krawietz conducted Liverpool 's pre-match press conference ahead of facing the Shrews in Klopp's absence, and offered an update on the Reds boss' condition.

"We hope so (that he will be back) of course," he told reporters. "He is well so far. He feels fine.

"The regulations are how they are and he has to do tests as well. We hope he will be fine to be in tomorrow."

While Klopp could be back on the sidelines, Krawietz was unable to confirm how many senior players Liverpool are likely to be without for the game following the Reds' Covid-19 outbreak which saw them shut down the AXA Training Centre this week, with the strength of squad available remaining the subject of mystery as a result.

"No, I can't tell you exact numbers but obviously the situation is like that for the game tomorrow," Krawietz said. "We have a squad, we have a team and we can play and will try and win this game.

"There is a difficult situation out there and we have a couple of injuries, illness, Covid cases. It's a situation we have to deal with. We still have to wait for a few results as well.

"The players are not here for today so they have to do their test before they can join the building today. This is why I cannot speak of exact numbers."

But Krawietz hinted that some youngsters may be involved tomorrow, despite coronavirus cases breaking into the youth ranks too.

He continued: "We had a few Covid cases in the Under-23s as well. A few players are back now and can join the squad. We will choose a team which is able to follow our football way.

"We want to play a proper game tomorrow.

"This is the idea, following our ideas of defending, being compact, being aggressive, chasing the ball in the moment when it's possible and playing good football attacking-wise, playing forward, attack the goal and then we will see what the outcome will be."