Alexander-Arnold’s absence in the second half raised eyebrows, with Harvey Elliott replacing him and Curtis Jones shifting to the right-back position.
Elliott’s impactful performance, contributing assists for Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez, underscored his importance despite concerns about Alexander-Arnold’s fitness.
Klopp provided an update on Alexander-Arnold’s condition after the match, confirming that the vice-captain was withdrawn as a precaution due to his ongoing knee issues.
This decision was made considering Alexander-Arnold’s previous injury, where he damaged his knee ligaments a month ago.
“Same area in the knee. Nothing really bad but he felt it again. We have to see. We were made aware of it so thought ‘what can we do?’, then Trent said ‘no, it’s fine’.
“But it’s not as he feels it, so we had to be careful.In the context of the victory, Klopp added: “It was the perfect afternoon – besides the Trent thing, obviously.”
The absence of Conor Bradley, who is currently on compassionate leave, may have influenced the decision to rush Alexander-Arnold back into action.
Despite Klopp’s earlier indication that Bradley might return to training next week, the uncertainty surrounding his availability leaves a void at right-back.
With Alexander-Arnold’s potential absence for the upcoming match against Brentford, Joe Gomez could be called upon to fill in at right-back, pending his recovery from illness.
Additionally, Liverpool faced multiple absentees against Burnley, including key players like Mo Salah, Alisson, Dominik Szoboszlai, Thiago, Joel Matip, Stefan Bajcetic, and Ben Doak, due to various short and long-term issues.
