INTERNATIONAL: Liverpool have asked the English Football League to reschedule the first leg of their League Cup semi-final against Arsenal on Thursday, the 6 of January, due to a rising number of COVID-19 cases at the club.

Liverpool cancelled Tuesday's first-team training session. In a statement, the club has announced: "The Reds have formally requested to the EFL that the fixture is rescheduled after further suspected positive tests were registered among players and staff, allied to other factors impacting selection, including illness and injury," the club said in a statement.

"Among the considerations which led to today's application to the EFL is the need for travelling supporters to be given as much notice as possible of any potential postponement."

Manager Juergen Klopp, along with goalkeeper Alisson Becker, forward Roberto Firmino and defender Joel Matip were ruled out of the 2-2 draw against Chelsea at the weekend after returning positive tests.

Virgil van Dijk, Thiago Alcantara, Fabinho and Curtis Jones were also forced into isolation last month.

Britain is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the highly-transmissible Omicron variant. The risk of hospitalization with the Omicron variant of coronavirus is about one-third that of the Delta variant, according to British analysis of more than a million cases of both types in recent weeks.

^{PHOTO: FILE OF LIVERPOOL AND ARSENAL TEAM TRAINING SESSIONS / SCREENSHOTS FROM LIVERPOOLFC.COM WITH STATEMENT FROM LIVERPOOL REQUESTING POSTPONEMENT}