Fabinho, Virgil van Dijk, and Joel Matip out against West Ham - How injuries will make Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool cautious and it's already having an affect

Liverpool are certainly feeling the heat this season and now a defensive injury crisis could have serious implications for their title defence.

After the cruel blow of Virgil van Dijk's anterior cruciate ligament problem, Joel Matip's fitness is uncertain, and now Fabinho, who has filled in expertly for the Reds, is set to be sidelined by a hamstring issue.

We don't yet know how long the Cameroonian and the Brazilian will be out for but it means manager Jurgen Klopp now only has one centre-back he can consider as a senior player - Joe Gomez.

When Fabinho left the field on Tuesday night, it was Rhys Williams who stepped into this boots, and the 19-year-old performed admirably for 60 minutes, helping Liverpool keep a clean sheet in their 2-0 win over Danish side FC Midtjylland.

He competed well aerially and looked fine in possession as the Anfield club dominated the ball.

Williams is now in line to start on Saturday against West Ham - a game you can hear live on talkSPORT from 5:30pm - while Klopp has suggested Nat Phillips is another player who could possibly come into the team, along with 17-year-old starlet Billy Koumetio.

"Rhys Williams did really well - that was really good," said Klopp. "He was commanding, he was chatty - it was a really good game from him.

"The only problem we have now is that there are four days until West Ham, and every day you [the media] will make a story about him and he'll have to deal with that as well.

"He is a talent, he is 19. Two Champions League appearances and he's won both. Promising. But we have Nat Phillips [for the Premier League] - he's a centre-back. Billy [Koumetio] - he will train too."

The biggest change for Liverpool may be the midfield, with Klopp possibly having to play a touch more conservative to prevent the youngster who starts atr centre-back from being isolated, especially considering their flying full-backs.

Former Red Dietmar Hamann definitely believes this, telling talkSPORT: "When you lose Van Dijk, he is the best centre-back in the world at the moment.

"What the guy has done since he came to the club - he galvanised them and changed them from one of the most vulnerable defensively to one of the best.

"It also affects your team going forward, because if Van Dijk is not in the team they're probably a bit more cautious. He's clearly a big loss."

We saw it in place against Sheffield United, with Jordan Henderson, still getting his own fitness back, and Georginio Wijnaldum offering defensive cover for Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson.

In that game, Liverpool played an astonishing front four of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino - the latter playing deeper than usual to counter the defensive midfield.

There was minimal change in the Reds' expected goals output but they managed less shots on target against the Blades (5), than in their previous Premier League matches with Everton (8), Aston Villa (8), and Arsenal (9).

The forward line, it appears, will have to do a lot more work to get the ball into key areas to make up for the more cautious midfield and defence.

It was perhaps only a blip with a heavily-rotated team but Liverpool only managed one open play shot on target against Midtjylland, and that was Jota's goal from just a few yards out.

It will be interesting to see how they approach this weekend's game against West Ham. The Hammers may just fancy their chances…

How Liverpool could look against West Ham

You can hear live and exclusive commentary of Liverpool v West Ham on Saturday, October 31 at 5.30pm

Being Premier League champions is never easy, everyone wants to beat you and even the slightest dip in form will have you under serious scrutiny.