Jürgen Klopp has confirmed Liverpool expect to be without Philippe Coutinho for the coming weeks.

The Brazil playmaker underwent a scan on Monday afternoon on the ankle injury he sustained against Sunderland to determine the extent of the issue and is now set to be sidelined until the New Year.

The manager told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Phil needs between five and a few weeks until we have him back. We will see. He is not in for tonight and for the next few games.”

Asked for the thinking behind making eight changes for the EFL Cup clash with Leeds United, Klopp added: “Roberto [Firmino] couldn’t play.

“The same with Joel Matip and a few other players had all the games until now – we can bring in fresh legs, especially in defence.

“In attack, we have not that number of options anymore but I’m fine with the options we have. So we start with this line-up, we have a strong bench and we want to go to the semis.”