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Jurgen Klopp says Simon Mignolet will start Liverpool’s next Premier League game against Manchester City after his shock decision to drop the Belgian against Arsenal.

Loris Karius came in for his first start since Wolves in the FA Cup in January and his first start in the Premier League since West Ham last December.

The young German had little to do in terms of saves although exercised nerves among the crowd by delaying with the ball at his feet several times, with Danny Welbeck almost blocking clearances in both halves.

Klopp insisted he had changed his goalkeeper to allow Mignolet a rest mentally and reiterated that he was a “clear number one” in his goalkeeping ranks.

The Reds boss said: “Intensity for a goalkeeper is different, it’s not a physical intensity. It’s a mental intensity.

“We created a situation before the season that we said we wanted to have three really strong goalkeepers, that’s our situation now.

“That means you cannot deal with it like you would do when there is a clear number three, a clear number two. Yes Simon is a clear number one but the others are not clear number twos and threes. They are really strong goalkeepers so in this moment Simon did outstandingly good so far, he won the race in the pre-season, he’s always there, he’s a machine. I hope solid is not a negative word, he’s always there, he’s really, really reliable.

“The others had a bit of problems with injuries and things like this, and he won the race.”

Klopp suggested that Mignolet had expressed his displeasure at the decision when he told him the news at Melwood on Saturday.

“I told Si yesterday and he didn’t give me a hug and say ‘that’s exactly what I thought we should do’ but anyway I wanted to do it, I wanted to give him this rest.

“Loris did a lot of good things, he played really cool football. Yes sometimes he was a little bit too cool and waited a little bit too long.

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“But obviously you could hear in the stadium that we all need to get used to playing football in close situations. For the goalkeeper or if Emre has the ball and someone is around him, the whole crowd was like ‘woooah’.

“They are all a little bit surprised, the players should not be because of orientation, you need to play in close spaces, as a goalkeeper and as an outfield player.

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“He did a good job today and I’m happy about this – and he had a few things to do.”

“100% if nothing happens Simon will play against, who’s next opponent? Manchester City.

The Reds boss declined to comment on a suggestion Karius might play in the Champions League games with Mignolet playing in the Premier League.

“Nothing to say. We don’t talk about decisions like this before it’s coming up.”