Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson the club must its ‘whole squad’ in the final four games of the season as it aims for an historic quadruple, following Fabinho’s injury away at on Tuesday night.
The Reds went behind in the early stages at Villa Park after Douglas Luiz smuggled the ball over the line, but Joel Matip equalised within minutes before Sadio Mané’s excellent second-half header secured all three points and took the Reds back level with at the top of the Premier League table, albeit having played an extra game.
The introduction of Henderson, who had started on the bench, helped Liverpool gain a footing in a match which Steven Gerrard’s Villa had started at a ferocious pace. The 31-year-old was brought on shortly after the half-hour mark after Fabinho had gone down holding his hamstring.
After his team has secured all three points, Liverpool manager discussed the extent of the injury.
‘I don’t know [how bad it is],’ Klopp explained. He felt the muscle, not too much. He is quite positive but I’m not sure what I can make of that, to be honest. We will see. He has a good feeling and that gives me a better feeling than I had and I took him off. What that means, I don’t know yet.’
Naby Keita and Curtis Jones had started alongside Fabinho, and Henderson praised their performances while insisting that every member of the squad has a significant role to play in the final four matches of the campaign.
‘That’s probably the biggest disappointment of the night is Fab, really,’ Henderson said. ‘Fingers crossed it’s not too bad but we know he is a fantastic player and a big player for us so fingers crossed he’s OK.’
‘But yes, we’ve got to use the whole squad, especially over this period the amount of games we’ve had has been really intense. I think the lads that came in tonight have done a fantastic job and we’ve got to recover because we’ve got another big game at the weekend.’
Liverpool’s next match is the FA Cup final against Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday, before two remaining Premier League fixtures away at Southampton and at home to Wolves. The following weekend the Reds will contest the UEFA Champions League final against Real Madrid in Paris, having already won the Carabao Cup this season.
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