Liverpool suffer major injury blow ahead of Newcastle United clash as £20m duo ruled out

Liverpool have been handed a major injury blow ahead of the New Year's Day clash against Newcastle United.

Jurgen Klopp has confirmed left-back Kostas Tsimikas will be out for a "long time" after suffering a broken collarbone in the 35th minute. The injury occurred when the Greece international collided with Arsenal winger Buakyo Saka before awkwardly falling into Klopp on the touchline.

It leaves the Reds without a fully fit left-back with Andrew Robertson still recovering from a dislocated shoulder.

"A massive shadow was Kostas Tsimikas," said Klopp, who watched his side draw 1-1 with the Gunners. "His collarbone is definitely broken. All the rest, we have to see. He'll be out for a long time, which is hard to swallow with the Robo situation."

Klopp added: "Of course it affected me. I had no pain but thought maybe Kostas was going to be fine. I would happily give my collarbone for him to be fit again.

"It is not cool when something like that happens in front of you and you are involved in that, I was not sure what even happened or if I fell on him. It is not nice to see."

Meanwhile, Liverpool will also assess the fitness of Luis Diaz ahead of ahead of fixtures against Burnley and Newcastle.

The 26-year-old was withdrawn in the second half with a knee issue, and Klopp is unsure on the extent of the winger's issue.

Klopp said: "I hope not. He has pain, it was knee on knee and in that moment we wanted to change twice and then Lucho was down.

"And actually we first wanted to wait if maybe Lucho has to come off but then we decided [to] change all three because now we don't have to wait how Lucho is and that's what we did then.

"Lucho told me 'little pain', physios were not too concerned, but you never know and we play in three days and you never know how quick the turnaround is, so we have to see. I don't know."