Klopp explains why Naby Keita didn’t feature v City & LFC fans breathe easy…

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We must admit, we were a little nervous last night when looking at the team-sheet and seeing Naby Keita was absent from the match-day squad.

Liverpool still beat Manchester City 2-1, but we were looking forward to watching Keita link up with Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, who scored our goals in the second-half, for the first time.

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(Video) Mo Salah scores lovely goal 52 seconds into pre-season debut

But according to Klopp, Keita simply had a sore neck from a very long flight across America – and there’s nothing for us to worry about.

Keita’s been our most impressive performer of pre-season, so it’s fantastic that his absence was purely precautionary.

We reckon if it had been a Premier League game, he’d have probably played – especially against Manchester City.

The Guinean will likely return on Saturday, when we face Manchester United – and we think Klopp will now begin to select teams close to the one we’ll deploy on Opening Day v West Ham.

In our opinion, the side will look something like this: Alisson; Clyne, Robertson, van Dijk, Gomez; Fabinho, Keita, Wijnaldum; Mane, Salah, Firmino

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