(Reuters) – Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp expects to be in the dugout at Nottingham Forest on Saturday despite being charged by the Football Association (FA) for his outburst at an assistant referee during last weekend’s win against Manchester City.
Klopp was shown a red card for confronting the official after Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah was denied a free kick late in the second half at Anfield. He was given until Friday by the FA to respond to the charge.
“We just followed the normal process. In this moment I expect being on the bench tomorrow but I don’t know 100%,” Klopp told reporters on Friday, without revealing details.
“We don’t know too well the (FA disciplinary) process but we have enough people who know how it goes and we did everything we had to do.”
Liverpool have found form in their last two Premier League games, beating champions City and West Ham United to move up to seventh in the standings with 16 points from 10 games.
Klopp said Forest was a tough place to visit despite Steve Cooper’s promoted side languishing at the bottom of the table with just one victory this season.
“The atmosphere will be outstanding. When we faced them last time (in last season’s FA Cup) they were full of confidence and really flying. We felt that. It was a well-trained team,” he said.
“It’s different to this season, but that makes it even more difficult because now the spirit will be at 100%, they will fight for everything.”
Midfielder Naby Keita and centre back Ibrahima Konate are set to return to full training next week while striker Darwin Nunez, on target against West Ham, has a tight hamstring and Klopp would make a late call on his inclusion against Forest.
“He (Nunez) is one of the cases where we need to have a look because he was not injured, but he felt something and I don’t know if he feels that still today and what the medical department tells me then, we have to see,” said the German.
(Reporting by Dhruv Munjal in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
