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Loris Karius has won the battle to be Liverpool’s No 1.

The £4.7million signing from Mainz will make his Premier League debut for the Reds in Saturday’s clash with Hull City at Anfield.

It’s a crushing blow for Simon Mignolet, who had hoped to return to the starting line up after sitting out the midweek EFL Cup tie with Derby County.

The ECHO understands that the keepers were informed about Jurgen Klopp’s decision at Melwood on Friday.

Karius clocked up nearly 100 Bundesliga appearances before being brought to Anfield to increase competition for Mignolet’s place this summer.

The former Manchester City trainee had looked set to start the season as Liverpool’s No 1 before he broke his hand playing in a friendly against Chelsea during the pre-season tour of America.

The young German shot-stopper was sidelined for six weeks and in his absence Mignolet performed well. The Belgium international, who has been the club’s first choice keeper since his £9million move from Sunderland three years ago, made some fine saves against Tottenham and Leicester City.

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Karius was on the bench for the recent wins over Leicester and Chelsea before Klopp decided to hand him his competitive bow for the Reds at the iPro Stadium on Tuesday night.

The 23-year-old made one crucial sliding challenge at the feet of Darren Bent but had little to do as Liverpool dominated.

Klopp kept his cards close to his chest when asked on Thursday who would start against Hull City. However, he did say that it wouldn’t necessarily be a long-term decision.

“Let’s go through a few different kinds of ways in which we could see it,” he said.“Do we say okay Loris had the game against Derby. Was it a real game for a keeper? Not really so give him a home game for example. What would this mean for Simon? It could mean nothing.

“We could say there is an international break coming up so give Loris a home game and Swansea away and then both have had the chance to show what they are. It’s not in doubt, it’s not a test.

“It’s like in all positions, if you play and you win 2-0, you could still change the midfielder thinking we could win the next game 3-0.

“That’s possible but with a goalkeeper I accept that things seem to be a bit different.

“We have two very strong goalkeepers and we think about how they can perform and how their specific skills can help the team. That’s what I have to decide.

“I accept again the circumstances over the keeper’s position. But in the end it’s 100% positive. Liverpool FC will have a very strong goalkeeper on Saturday between the posts.”