Jurgen Klopp Explains Why Mohamed Salah Was Benched for Crystal Palace Fixture

Jurgen Klopp has explained that Mohamed Salah has dropped to the bench for Saturday's Premier League clash with Crystal Palace due to the sheer volume of games he has played recently.

The Egyptian forward scored during the Reds' 2-1 win over Tottenham on Monday evening, but was left out of Liverpool's starting XI against Palace and replaced by Takumi Minamino.

It is just the second time Salah has not started for Liverpool in the top flight this season - the only previous match, against Leicester in November, was enforced due to him testing positive for coronavirus.

Klopp has been vocal in his criticism towards the congested fixture schedule teams are having to contend with this season - which is only going to intensify over the Christmas period - and the Liverpool boss cited this as his reasoning for his team selection.

"Both teams are in the same situation, playing Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday so it will be a tough ask," Klopp told BT Sport.

"Palace are playing a similar system to Tottenham, they like to counter attack so we have to go again.

"Mo Salah is on the bench, they have all played a lot of games. He can come on and make a difference. We need all the boys."

Due to the intense fixture schedule and lack of pre-season, Klopp has been an outspoken supporter of reverting back to the five substitutions law that had been in place following Project Restart.

However, this was scrapped at the start of the 2020/21 campaign, and was voted down for the third time this season on Thursday. Klopp opted to not make a single substitution during Monday evening's win over Tottenham.

Salah has featured in 20 of Liverpool's 22 games this season - including playing the full 90 against FC Midtjylland in Liverpool's final Champions League group stage match, despite the Reds having already qualified for the knockout stages as group winners.