Jose Mourinho has admitted that he thinks Liverpool’s Joel Matip will face Tottenham tonight, even though Jurgen Klopp failed to confirm his availability.
When asked about the Cameroonian defender, the Liverpool Echo quote the Reds boss as saying: ‘I don’t know yet. We only played two days ago and he left the pitch with a back spasm. The physios work pretty much 24 hours on him, so we will see. Today, we have another session and we will see.’
However, despite this less-than-convincing update, Mourinho feels that Matip – who earns £100,000-a-week at Anfield – will be fine to play.
The ex-Chelsea boss said: ‘Matip, I believe that he’s going to play.’
It is a mystery as to why Mourinho thinks this, as Liverpool haven’t said much about the centre-back to encourage a view like this.
However, this could just be a case of the Portuguese coach – a master of mind games – trying to get into his opponent’s head and call his bluff.
Who knows?
Perhaps Mourinho is overthinking things, although it’s intriguing to see him make such a prediction up against the facts of the matter.
One thing is for certain – Mourinho would surely prefer Matip to be absent.
If the former Schalke 04 man cannot play, then Klopp will need to name one of the inexperienced Nathaniel Phillips, Rhys Williams or Billy Koumetio to play alongside an out-of-position Fabinho at centre-back.
With Harry Kane and Heung-min Son in such deadly form, they could cause serious problems for Liverpool’s patched-up defence.
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