Jürgen Klopp insists places are still up for grabs for Liverpool's starting eleven when they face Arsenal in their Premier League curtain-raiser next weekend.

The Reds' final pre-season friendlies sees them take on Barcelona and Mainz on Saturday and Sunday as they apply the finishing touches to their preparations for the 2016-17 campaign.

But Klopp is determined that his line-up for their glamour tie with the Catalan giants at Wembley Stadium on Saturday evening will in no way be the same that takes to the field at the Emirates Stadium on August 14th.

The manager warned reporters, and the players themselves, not to take too much from the teams for either fixture - noting that there will still be a week's worth of training to follow. 

He insisted that because "a few players" have "only had 10 days' training" the fixture comes "quite early" for much of his team and will therefore be "a real challenge" and "especially [tough] for a few players."

But he denied suggestions his team would provide a glimpse of the XI that could start in their league opener, as he explained: "Everything can happen in one wekk. It's not that I will say the Barcelona team is the team who will start against Arsenal and the Mainz team can fight for the 12 to 18 positions. It is not like this."

Indeed, Klopp remains intent that his "door is open" over the "line-up and squad" and that they "will have more than 18 players for next week's squad."

He indicated that he will base his judgement off of their training sessions and their final two friendlies and declared that his players should not be "too disappointed" if they don't start against Barcelona, insisting that they won't have "understood what it is about" if they think like that.

Reds boss insists Arsenal line-up decisions will wait 

Klopp's mind is far from made up over his XI for the opening day at Arsenal. (Picture: Getty Images)
Klopp's mind is far from made up over his XI for the opening day at Arsenal. (Picture: Getty Images)

Klopp added further that both games are friendlies, with the main focus about "getting into the best shape you can" as he said that the fitness of the players is "really important" for him. 

"I want to see all the potential, all the fitness at this moment and a working attitude," he continued, as he said that the squad's approach in training has been "very good." 

The Reds boss said that it is "very important" to him that players don't feel it is "a difficult situation" if they are not part of the team to face Barcelona and that such a player would "need to learn a few things still."

"Until now there is no decision about the line-up," Klopp said, saying that his final line-up will "depend on all the things" such as "who played, how often together, what worked in which situation, what will work for the Arsenal game, which fitness level this player and that player are at."

Klopp is hopeful that he can enter the league-opening weekend with a few players that have had "five-and-a-half week's pre-season without injury", which he believes would put them "in a better position." 

Nevertheless, he was keen to stress that Arsenal "is only one game" and that "a few days later" they will have another, so they "can use this time again" to get the rest of the squad up to full fitness.

He said that he hopes Liverpool are in a situation where they "can really make the choice" rather than having to "select a certain XI" because they "don't have anyone else."

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About the author
Charlie Malam
Digital Sports Writer at the Daily Express. First-class Staffordshire University Sports Journalism graduate. Formerly VAVEL UK's Liverpool FC editor and Deputy Editor-in-Chief. Contributor since June 2014.