Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is "hopeful" that Virgil van Dijk will be back from illness for Wednesday's EFL Cup semi-final first leg against Fulham.
The Reds captain was nowhere to be seen as Liverpool advanced to the FA Cup fourth round with a 2-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates, where a Jakub Kiwior own goal and Luis Diaz injury-time strike did the damage.
Liverpool are already working without Joel Matip for the remainder of the season due to his ACL rupture, while Joe Gomez is being forced to cover for Kostas Tsimikas and Andrew Robertson on the left-hand side of defence.
As a result, Jarell Quansah and Ibrahima Konate paired up as Liverpool's only central defenders against Arsenal, but thanks in no small part to the Gunners' wastefulness, the pair travelled home with a well-earned clean sheet.
Quansah and Konate both picked up niggles in the contest, but they were able to see out the full 90 minutes and could be required in the heart of defence if Van Dijk's virus does not clear up in time for midweek.
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However, speaking to the media after the contest, Klopp expressed optimism that Van Dijk would be given the green light to take on the Cottagers, who visit Anfield on January 10 for the first leg.
"[He is] ill. I'm hopeful [he will return on Wednesday] but I don't know. He came and it is difficult for Virg to look [rubbish] but he did, so we sent him home again," Klopp said.
Despite the absence of their talismanic captain and Africa Cup of Nations-bound Mohamed Salah, Liverpool dug in against a profligate Arsenal, who fired 18 shots over the course of the match but only found the target with five of them.
Alisson Becker was only forced into a couple of challenging saves, tipping a fierce Ben White strike over the bar and palming a deflected Kai Havertz cross off the line, and he was offered staunch protection from Quansah and Konate over the course of the contest.
Konate took home the Man of the Match prize on account of making two blocks, two interceptions and completing 85% of his passes, and Klopp admitted that he would have conceded defeat in the tie had the Frenchman or Quansah been forced to come off.
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When asked how he would describe his centre-backs' displays, Klopp replied: "Top, top. Oh my God, the horrible moment was [when] Ibou was twice down and then Jarell goes down and jarred his back, twisted a little bit.
"Actually, I thought that's it and then it would have been really tricky early in the game. It was really good [from Konate and Quansah] and Joey [Gomez] again [was] good and Trent [Alexander-Arnold] exceptional.
"We had a few days' time to prepare for this difficult game, obviously with a slightly different team, and then in the last second Virgil [van Dijk] couldn't play. That didn't help. Timing was bad in the first half for pressing, for pretty much everything in the first line.
"And then we changed obviously as well quite a bit and that caused then Arsenal problems. That's how football is. These little parts, you cannot be always that influential. We used now the information from the first half and tried to do better and did much better, everything was better.
"We then had chances to score earlier but scored in the last second, which is fine as well and we are really happy. We all know cup competitions are not about being the better team, it's about winning the game and we had in the second half much more good moments and deserved the next round. But of course we could have lost tonight as well, that's clear."
Liverpool will learn their fourth-round fate when the draw is held on Monday evening, just before the start of Manchester United's clash with Wigan Athletic.
Ben Knapton
