With want-away Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez set to make his first appearance of the season against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, Jurgen Klopp certainly needed to field his strongest side.

The Chilean may not see himself as a Gunners player for much longer but will no doubt want to put in a top performance to keep himself in the shop window while the transfer window remains open.

Arsene Wenger is adamant he will not be sold this summer, regardless of the South American's refusal to sign a new deal, and will hope he can prove influential against the Reds.

And the Frenchman's confidence of his side coming away from Merseyside with three points may have been given a boost when he saw Liverpool's starting XI.

Liverpool's formidable attacking threat of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah maintained their places in the starting XI, but Klopp decided to make one big change at the back.

Simon Mignolet was left out of the squad to face Arsenal, with Loris Karius given his first appearance of the campaign against the Gunners.

The German was dropped last season after his arrival in the summer, having been brought in to succeed Mignolet as number one.

And the Belgian has since, generally, proven his worth between the sticks for Liverpool, making his omission against Arsenal a big surprise.

Klopp explains reason for Mignolet absence

However, Klopp revealed there was no major worry or concern for the former Sunderland shot-stopper's absence - allaying any fears of further inconsistencies at the back for the Reds.

“[It is] to rest him, that’s all. Four games in a very short term, for a goalkeeper especially." Klopp said pre-match, per Liverpool's official website.

“He didn’t want to rest, it’s not a problem. We spoke yesterday about it and I really thought it made sense, especially because we have the quality in behind.

“It is just because I want to let him have a rest after this really intense time with really good performances for us.

“But with the other boys, we wanted a situation like this; we wanted to have three strong goalkeepers.

"They’ve shown up in training, they are really ambitious, they want to have game time, they want to have games, so today Loris is starting.”

Ward promoted to Reds bench

Mignolet's absence has promoted 24-year-old third-choice 'keeper Danny Ward to the bench after the Wales international helped Huddersfield to promotion from the Championship last campaign.

Klopp will have to hope Karius won't show signs of rustiness, given his lack of game time, against Arsenal's formidable attacking talents in Sanchez, Alexandre Lacazette and Olivier Giroud.