Liverpool’s problems in central midfield look set to ease following the international break after Arthur Melo and Fabio Carvalho got vital minutes under their belts.
The Reds have been hampered by injuries in the early stages of the season, with Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Curtis Jones all sidelined, while Thiago Alcantara and Carvalho have both picked up issues too. Thiago returned from his hamstring injury recently, but Carvalho has been absent from the past two games with a dead leg.
After initially insisting he did not need any more players, Jurgen Klopp changed his tune towards the back end of the summer transfer window. Arthur then arrived on a season-long loan from Juventus, but has so far only played 13 minutes as a late substitute in the 4-1 thrashing by Napoli last week.
Reports in Italy suggested Klopp might already be considering terminating the loan due to the midfielder’s state. Those rumours have been denied on Merseyside and, with a two-week international break on the horizon, Klopp will have been delighted by the events of Saturday afternoon.
Liverpool under-21s’ Premier League 2 fixture against Leicester City contained some familiar faces, with Arthur, Carvalho and Nat Phillips all involved. Both midfielders played the full 90 minutes as a first-half goal from Layton Stewart gave Barry Lewtas’ side a 1-0 win.
Arthur played in a midfield three alongside Jake Cain and Stefan Bajcetic, while Carvalho operated further forward in his more unusual position with Stewart and Bobby Clark.
The Liverpool under-21s XI was: Davies; Mabaya, Jonas, Phillips, Chambers; Bajcetic, Cain, Arthur; Clark, Carvalho, Stewart.
Arthur, who was booked in the closing stages of the game, was starting for the first time in 129 days. The 26-year-old will stay on Merseyside and train at the AXA Training Centre over the upcoming international break in an effort to be ready for first-team action come the Premier League game against Brighton on October 1.
"Arthur needs now just football – and training, especially, that's how it is," Klopp said earlier this month. "He wasn't in team training for a while at Juve, so he needs proper team training – and that's what we are doing with him.
"Can he play minutes? Yes. Should he play a full game? No, because he needs to get used to the intensity in each competition.
"It's not like in the Champions League you have to work less than in the Premier League. Not at all, especially not here. He is doing well, he is really giving his absolute all in training, we have to be careful with him as well and then we will see whether we can use him."
Liverpool have been granted a long break from football after Sunday’s scheduled Premier League game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge was postponed due to a lack of available police ahead of Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral on Monday.
