Team News: Liverpool sweating over fitness of defence and new man

Ahead of the visit of West Ham, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been concerned over the fitness of a number of defenders.

World Cup finalist Dejan Lovren is sidelined, while Ragnar Klavan has not trained and is unlikely to be available for selection.

Joe Gomez and Joel Matip both joined full training late in the week and while they will compete to partner Virgil van Dijk at the back, neither are likely to be match fit.

Elsewhere there’s a doubt over the presence of summer signing Fabinho, who was past fit following an injury concern but was then sent home from training on Friday through illness.

Fellow new arrivals Alisson, Naby Keita and Xheridan Shaqiri are all in contention to start and make their competitive debuts for the Reds.

There’s set to be a number of new faces on show for the away side too, with Manuel Pellegrini taking charge of his first league game as West Ham boss.

Andriy Yarmolenko has recovered from a hip problem, while the likes of Lukasz Fabianski, Issa Diop, Fabian Balbuena, Ryan Fredericks, Jack Wilshere and record signing Felipe Anderson are all fit.

Late arrivals Lucas Perez and Carlos Sanchez are less likely to feature having only trained late in the week but could make the match day squad.

Winston Reid, Manuel Lansing and Andy Carroll are all ruled out, however, so a new look Hammers side is set to be on the cards at Anfield.