Klopp explains surprise decision to drop Mignolet

Matt Stead

Jurgen Klopp says that Loris Karius will start against Arsenal on Sunday because Simon Mignolet needs “a rest”.

It was reported earlier on Sunday that Mignolet would lose his place in the starting line-up against the Gunners despite featuring in each of the Reds’ opening four games.

Those claims were confirmed when Liverpool named their starting line-up for the Anfield fixture, with Karius starting and Danny Ward on the bench.

Jamie Carragher described it as a “bizarre” decision from Klopp, who discussed it ahead of the clash.

“He’s rested, that’s all,” the Liverpool manager told the club’s official website.

“He didn’t want to rest, it’s not a problem. We spoke yesterday about it and I really thought it made sense, especially because we have the quality in behind.

“It is just because I want to let him have a rest after this really intense time with really good performances for us.

“But with the other boys, we wanted a situation like this; we wanted to have three strong goalkeepers. They’ve shown up in training, they are really ambitious, they want to have game time, they want to have games, so today Loris is starting.”