Jurgen Klopp admits Liverpool's worsening injury situation in central defence may force him into the January transfer market.

Liverpool defeated Stoke 1-0 in their Capital One Cup semi-final first leg on Tuesday but the victory came at a cost as Philippe Coutinho, Dejan Lovren and Kolo Toure all suffered injuries.

Coutinho limped off with a hamstring injury in the 18th minute and was replaced by Jordon Ibe - who scored the winning goal - while Lovren was forced from the field 10 minutes before half-time with a similar complaint.

Midfielder Lucas was deployed as an emergency centre-back alongside Toure after Lovren's withdrawal but the Ivorian confounded Liverpool's injury woes when he appeared to be struggling at full-time with what also looked like a hamstring injury.

Klopp said: "In this situation with no centre-backs fit, I would say [a transfer] is something we could look at.

"Two weeks ago we had three centre-backs, that's a good situation, at the start of the season we had five, now we have none."

Klopp had previously said he would not make major changes in January but with Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho also on the sidelines and young defender Joe Gomez ruled out for the season, he may be forced to rethink his plans.

Liverpool visit Exeter City in the FA Cup third round on Friday night before pivotal games against Arsenal and Manchester United in the Premier League next week.

Source: Sky Sports