Klopp makes big selection call vs Man City as Davies and Kabak eye debuts

Jurgen Klopp admits he wants to avoid pairing Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak in defence if he can avoid it against Manchester City.

The Liverpool boss has struggled for defensive options this season which has contributed to their poor recent form.

Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez have been long-term absentees while Joel Matip and Fabinho have both suffered their own issues.

Three of those four will definitely be unavailable for Sunday's game while Fabinho is touch and go.

The Reds opted to bring in two new faces on deadline day to bolster their backline.

But, even with their injury woes, Klopp is not keen on playing Davies and Kabak together this weekend.

“No. If I don’t have to, no," the German replied when asked if he would start them both.

Sunday's clash will be the first chance for either of them to make their debuts.

After that Liverpool face games against Leicester, RB Leipzig and Everton.

Klopp is pleased to have the new men on board but concedes the nature of their role means they cannot be thrown in at the deep end.

Instead they will have to adapt to a specific way of playing with the Reds boss keen to take it as it comes.

He added: “Now we have different options and that’s good. [It is] the best news we could get.

“Now we have to make sure the new-boys get all the information they need as quick as possible.

"In another position you could say ‘come on, play, try, we will adapt to you’ but in the defence the things we do are really clear.

"It’s about holding the line, it’s about dropping in the right moment. There are a lot of things [we do] that teams do different.

“We will see how quick we can do it. Today (Friday) is an important session for that, and then we will see what we will make.”