As Jurgen Klopp surveys a growing injury list, he will be confronted by a number of selection dilemmas for Liverpool’s visit from West Ham United on Wednesday night.

The Carabao Cup is usually the time for changes and rotation aplenty but with a semi-final up for grabs in a competition that has already seen several other Premier League heavyweights eliminated, the prospect of two-legged showdown for a place at Wembley will surely excite the manager.

He will remember fondly winning the trophy in 2022 and just as importantly how it provided the whole club with the impetus needed to go fighting it out on three more fronts for the remainder of that campaign.

With the Europa League to resume next year and the FA Cup getting underway next month at Arsenal, title-chasing Liverpool could benefit from a similar boost in the second half of the campaign.

Before that, though, a quarter-final visit from David Moyes’s Hammers has probably come at an awkward time given the injury list and the fact it comes slap-bang in the middle of visits from Manchester United and Arsenal.

The feeling is that Saturday’s game with the Gunners – a fixture that can see Liverpool spend Christmas Day top of the Premier League with victory – is the most important of the two Anfield games in the run-up to December 25 but how strong Klopp is able to go on Wednesday is determined by the players who can’t be involved.

Caoimhin Kelleher is expected to feature in goal in place of Alisson Becker. The Irishman kept goal right the way through the successful 2021/22 campaign including the final when he scored the winning penalty against Chelsea.

With Joel Matip sidelined for the season, Klopp’s plans for his centre-back partnership becomes a little more tricky. Jarell Quasah has enjoyed a fine breakout season to date to the point where it’d be no shock to see the England Under-21 international named at the back but the question is whether captain Virgil van Dijk joins him or if Joe Gomez is preferred in the position he wants to play more regularly.

There is, of course, the option of starting Gomez at right-back and moving Trent Alexander-Arnold into a more traditional midfield role given Alexis Mac Allister is injured. Wataru Endo will be needed for Arsenal if the Argentina World Cup winner’s nasty-sounding flesh injury continues to keep him out. That could yet be the option for the manager.

Another problem is the overreliance on Kostas Tsimikas on the left side. The Greek has been in good form of late but with Andy Robertson still no nearer his return after shoulder surgery in October, an injury to Tsimikas would be a serious setback.

Luke Chambers can deputise but it’s a difficult balancing act for the manager to get right. This feels like an ideal opportunity for Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones to start, whoever is preferred in the No.6 role on the night at least. Ryan Gravenberch won’t feature after an injury against United while Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic remain on the shelf.

That’s seven first-team players unavailable now and it’s a mounting list that is proving troublesome at just the wrong part of the season.

With Diogo Jota also absent with a hamstring problem, Klopp has four to go into his three up top. Without a goal in 10 games now, Darwin Nunez could use a start to potentially inject some momentum and rhythm into his game but Klopp may prefer to go for the Cody Gakpo option.

Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz might have to feature due to the lack of real deputies at the moment. It would represent a major surprise if Kaide Gordon and Ben Doak are picked instead. Quietly, this is one of the toughest team selections of the season to date.