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Philippe Coutinho has been ruled OUT of Liverpool 's trip to Newcastle United – but Jurgen Klopp has seen his defensive concerns eased.

Coutinho was not among the party that travelled to the North East ahead of tomorrow's Premier League clash at St James' Park.

The Brazilian has been sidelined since limping off with a hamstring problem during the second half of the 4-1 win at Manchester City a fortnight ago.

And his continued absence will be of concern to Liverpool, with Klopp having initially been confident the playmaker could be available for last Wednesday's Capital One Cup visit to Southampton.

Instead, Coutinho will remain on Merseyside to continue his treatment as the Reds aim for the victory that will move them to within three points of the Champions League qualification places.

Meanwhile, fears of a centre-back crisis have been allayed with Kolo Toure having travelled with the squad despite suffering a bang on the knee during training.

Had the Ivorian been unavailable then Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren would have been the only two senior centre-back available to Klopp given the long-term absences of Mamadou Sakho and Joe Gomez.