Liverpool vs Stoke: Nathaniel Clyne doubtful for Capital One Cup clash at Anfield

Liverpool could be without full-back Nathaniel Clyne for the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg against Stoke City at Anfield after picking up a knee problem in the Premier League victory over Norwich City. The England defender played the full 90 minutes at Carrow Road but picked up a bang to the knee.

With the Reds facing West Ham United in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday [30 January], Clyne may not be risked for the game – with the Europa League also due to return in February. Jon Flanagan, who made his first appearance for 20 months against Exeter City, is set to make his first start of the season in place of the ex-Southampton man.

"Clyney got a knock on the knee. He is a really tough boy, he is always available, but I think today it will not work for training," Klopp said, according to the club's official website. "We don't do too much, of course, but I think we should leave him out of training. We have to see what will happen overnight and make a decision.

"It's not too easy because we have only Flanno. We all love Flanno but he had a long time [out] and 90 minutes or more is maybe not the best thing. But if there's an opportunity we would like to try it. He is ready but of course it would be better if Clyney got fit."

There is better news however regarding Croatia international Dejan Lovren, who is fit to return to the Liverpool team after not featuring since the first leg win over Stoke at the Britannia Stadium in the first week of January. "Dejan after three weeks, he trained yesterday a complete session," Klopp said, according to official Liverpool Twitter page. "He had a complete exercise session with the team and that was good. But three weeks out we will have to see.

Despite Adam Lallana's late goal grabbing Liverpool a stoppage time winner over Norwich after a roller-coaster of a game, the match again highlighted the Merseysiders' failure to defend crosses and balls into their penalty area. Dieumerci Mbokani's goal which put the Canaries ahead for the first time, came after he held off the hesitant Mamadou Sakho and Klopp says talks have taken place in an attempt to amend the relentless flow of errors.

"We had a good talk, intensive," the Liverpool boss explained, according to Liverpool Echo. "Not the first one, but hopefully the last one. It's not about the formation, it's not always about the quality of the set plays. It's about what we are doing in the situations.

"In Norwich, we defended the first ball well but struggled then with the second or third. That's a normal reaction that you would speak about. The goal of Mbokani, there was still a full box so we could have pushed up earlier and left them offside. That would have been a clever idea. It's not too late to learn. But now it's time to."

Jordon Ibe's only goal gave Liverpool victory in the first leg of their semi-final with Stoke. Following the nine-goal thriller with Norwich, Klopp would happy accept a boring victory on Tuesday [26 January] which would comfortably see his side through.

"Boring is not too cool, but 1-0 is a great result," the German added. "We had that in Stoke, by the way. We played a good game, but could have been a bit more clear. Now we have the best situation you can have in a second leg. We won the first game away, now we have the opportunity to play at Anfield.

"I heard about the special atmosphere at Anfield, and I am really excited, looking forward to it. Let's take the power of LFC and go to the final! You can prepare as much as possible. That's what we're doing, not thinking about the result."