Jurgen Klopp Unsure of Severity of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip Injuries

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said he is unsure of the severity of injuries picked up by Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joel Matip during Tuesday's UEFA Champions League win over Napoli. 

The Reds qualified for the knockout stages of the competition on the back of Mohamed Salah's first-half goal in a 1-0 win, although the victory does appear to have come at a cost, with the two defenders in question picking up ailments.

Klopp was asked about reports that said Matip had gone to hospital to have a shoulder issue assessed and spoke about why Alexander-Arnold was replaced by Dejan Lovren late in the game, per Goal.

"I'm not sure," said Klopp on Matip's issue. "Nobody told me anything about [Joel's] shoulder, so hopefully that's a good sign. Trent got a knock on his foot, we are not sure about what exactly it is. It is painful."

The Liverpool boss played down fears regarding the fitness of James Milner, though, saying the primary reason for his withdrawal from the game was cramp.

Paul Joyce of The Times reported after the game that Matip had gone to hospital to have his shoulder checked: 

As Carl Markham of the Press Association relayed before the win over Napoli, Klopp praised Matip's application, that despite the fact he has only featured sparingly during the 2018-19 season: 

For Klopp the defensive injuries come at the worst possible time in the campaign. Not only are Liverpool about to embark on a congested festive period that includes some challenging fixtures, they are also already without Joe Gomez for six weeks.

It leaves the manager with some potentially challenging decisions to make ahead of the meeting with Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.

Although Milner and Fabinho have both shown during their careers they can slot in at right-back, Liverpool will definitely lose something from the team if Alexander-Arnold can't feature in that clash. Especially given United are likely to turn up at Anfield with the game plan of stifling the opposition.

The England international is a major threat when he surges forward into attacking areas and is a vital creative outlet: 

Regardless of the potential absences of the players mentioned, Klopp will still be confident of getting a result against United this weekend.

His team are in a fine run of form at the moment, backing up wins over Everton, Burnley and Bournemouth in the Premier League with that accomplished display against Napoli. They also head into the upcoming weekend of top-flight fixtures at the top of the standings following Manchester City's 2-0 loss at Chelsea on Saturday.

With City playing Everton on Saturday lunchtime this weekend, the onus will be on Klopp's team—who are only a point ahead of the defending champions—to muster a response.