Shrewsbury boss Steve Cotterill offers Covid-19 best wishes to Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool
Shrewsbury boss Steve Cotterill has offered Covid-hit Liverpool his best wishes ahead of Sunday's FA Cup third round clash at Anfield.
Town begin preparation this week for what they hope will be a memorable occasion in front of many thousands of travelling Salopians in the Anfield Road end.
It is just the second time in the club's 136-year history they have visited Anfield – remarkably less than two years after the first.
That night, a fourth round replay following an incredible Jason Cummings-inspired Montgomery Waters Meadow comeback, Town failed to get going and lost 1-0 via a late own goal to a youthful Liverpool side filled mostly with under-18s, leaving 8,000 disappointed in the away end.
Cotterill's men head to Merseyside in good form this time around, having taken 10 points from 12 across the Christmas period, including three clean sheets on the spin. They are eighth in the (six game) League One form table.
Things look a little more tricky for Jurgen Klopp's Reds at the moment. Liverpool have not won in three Premier League fixtures, in which they have taken just two points and lost ground to Manchester City in the title race with availability issues hitting hard.
Boss Klopp, who before Christmas voiced his concerns about facing potentially-unvaccinated lower league players in cup competitions, missed his side's 2-2 draw at Chelsea in the top flight on Sunday after returning a suspected positive Covid-19 test.
First-team stars Alisson Becker, Roberto Firmino and Joel Matip were ruled out of the Stamford Bridge contest after suspected positive tests.
That key trio comes after Thiago Alcantara missed action owing to the virus – and now has a hip problem – while Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Curtis Jones, who scored at the Meadow last time out and shone as Liverpool's youngest-ever captain against Town at Anfield – also isolated after contracting Covid. The latter trio have since returned.
The Reds are also now without star attackers Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane as well as midfielder Naby Keita, who have all jetted off to the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
Liverpool have other cup concerns to focus on prior to Shrewsbury's visit, however, as they face a two-legged EFL Cup semi-final against Arsenal either side of the Town clash, the first leg of which is on Thursday at The Emirates.
It is expected Klopp and Co. will use Sunday's FA Cup tie to rest and rotate first-team players. Other fitness concerns of late have included attackers Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino, who might have been set for a role against Salop.
When asked about Shrewsbury's trip to Anfield, Cotterill said: "My early thoughts are it's a wonderful occasion for our supporters and a great occasion for our players.
"But more importantly we hope that the coronavirus cases that Liverpool have had, that those boys are getting better, and also the ones we don't know about – we hope Jurgen Klopp is OK and recovering well.
"And for the other boys that picked it up, we hope it's mild sometimes and everyone is OK at Liverpool Football Club.
"They get our best wishes and we hope everything is OK. Other than that football is irrelevant at this moment, our best wishes go to them and that's all I need to say."
Klopp, like Cotterill, has been a public advocate of the vaccine programme and Liverpool players have been vaccinated.
The Reds boss and players to have tested positive are scheduled to finish their isolation periods – should negative tests be returned – prior to Shrewsbury's visit on Sunday afternoon (2pm).
That means the German boss, who missed the Shrewsbury tie two years ago as he took his senior players for a previously scheduled mid-season sabbatical, should be back in time to take his place in the dugout. Assistant boss Pep Lijnders was in charge at Chelsea.
Town, meanwhile, suffered a big availability blow of their own in Sunday's fine 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday as in-form nine-goal striker Daniel Udoh limped off with a suspected hamstring injury.
Shrews have Aaron Pierre back available from Covid, though Leicester loanee Khanya Leshabela, the other squad member to have tested positive, was still missing against the Owls, with his Town future and that of fellow loan man Sam Cosgrove up in the air.
