Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool will take no risks with Adam Lallana after the midfielder suffered a minor setback following his return from a thigh injury.

The England international made his first appearance of the season when he came off the bench late on against Chelsea last weekend.

However, after complaining of discomfort, he was left out of the squad at Stoke in midweek and is unlikely to feature against Premier League new boys Brighton on Saturday.

With so many games coming up, Klopp isn’t prepared to gamble on Lallana’s fitness for fear of losing him for another extended period.

“Adam felt the muscle more than he should,” Klopp said.

“We just need to be careful. It’s nothing, really.

(Image: Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

“After a really long and serious injury, it’s a very busy time coming up and we want him in the best shape with as much resistance against the different things that can happen as possible.

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“That’s why we left him out of the squad at Stoke. It’s not a real setback. It’s unlikely he will be involved at Brighton but we’ll see.”

Klopp is set to rotate once again for the showdown at the Amex Stadium with the likes of Jordan Henderson, Philippe Coutinho and Mohamed Salah expected to return to the starting line up.

(Image: (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images))

One man hoping to benefit from Klopp ringing the changes will be Andy Robertson. The £10million left-back hasn’t played since the League Cup defeat to Leicester City back in September.

It’s been a frustrating time for the Scotland international with Alberto Moreno making 13 successive starts in all competitions.

“It’s not an ideal situation to be honest,” Klopp admitted.

“Andy has made big steps. He had to improve in certain parts of the game but he knew that. It’s all good.

“It’s still early for him in terms of being with us and adapting to certain things. But he’s in a very good way and he’s close (to playing).”

With Joel Matip sidelined, Ragnar Klavan is expected to return at centre-back alongside Dejan Lovren. The Estonian defender missed the game at Stoke due to illness.

Losing Matip isn’t ideal with next Wednesday’s crunch Champions League clash with Spartak Moscow followed by the Merseyside derby. Joe Gomez is Klopp’s only other fit centre-back and he’s played the last three matches at right-back.

“I hope Ragnar will be okay,” Klopp said.

“We will see how long Joel will be out. He’s out for Saturday. That’s bad enough but now we must see how long it will take. I’m not sure in this moment.

“Before the Stoke game, we knew how close it was for Dejan Lovren (who was a fitness doubt). We only lined him up because Ragnar couldn’t. That was the situation.

“Against a team like Stoke, set-piece specialists and lots of heading, we needed a tall backline with all our little runners up front. At the moment we are okay (in terms of centre-backs), but if something else happened then it could be different.”

(Image: (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images))

Liverpool head for the South Coast on a high following their 3-0 triumph at Stoke. Salah’s stunning double made it 17 goals for the season and Klopp says the Egyptian’s team-mates are being inspired by his blistering form.

The Reds haven’t had an attacker this influential since Luis Suarez was leading the charge in 2013/14.

“If footballers would be kind of jealous of other players when they are very successful then they would not be here,” Klopp said.

“Mo and Suarez are completely different players. Suarez was an aggressive leader. For sure, Mo isn’t this kind of guy. He’s a fine, nice player with fantastic movements. He’s a completely different personality.

“Team players are always happy when someone makes a decision and it’s decisive. At this moment it’s Mo but in other moments it will be someone else.

“Sadio Mane, he needs more rhythm. It wasn’t his best performance of all time at Stoke but he still made a goal and scored a goal. That’s very important - even when you’re not flying to have an impact on a game.

“They are all only happy for Mo. We all are. We’re happy we have him to do these things but there will be a game when Mo doesn’t score and hopefully someone else will step in.”