MILNER OUT OF ARSENAL GAME

Veteran England midfielder James Milner has been ruled out of the blockbuster Premier League clash between home team Arsenal and Liverpool. The game will take place at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night having been initially scheduled for the Carabao Cup final weekend at the end of last month. Liverpool were unable to fulfil the fixture due to their Carabao Cup final involvement.

England player Milner was in the Liverpool squad that saw off Brighton & Hove Albion in the league last weekend, but Klopp says he’s not available for the Arsenal game. Klopp saw his side beat Brighton 2-0 in front of their home fans with goals from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah (penalty) either side of the half-time break to take their winning run to eight matches in the Premier League and they would be hoping to make it nine straight league wins with another away victory over Arsenal who are also in a rich vein of form with five straight victories in the league.

In his pre-match chat with the media on Tuesday ahead of the Arsenal game, Liverpool manager Klopp said that ageing England midfielder Milner will not be in the squad for the game due to illness. According to him, the former Newcastle United, Leeds United, Aston Villa and Manchester City player will miss the game alongside Greek left-back KostantinosTsimikas for the same reason.Klopp also talked about central defender IbrahimaKonate who’s ready to return to his squad ahead of the Arsenal game after missing the last two games in all competitions against Inter Milan and Brighton.

Klopp and Liverpool need a win at Arsenal to close the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester City to just a solitary point with nine games to go this season. Four points separate the two title rivals at the moment.