Jurgen Klopp welcomes the return of the ‘old’ Fabinho after a strong performance against Wolves

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hopes midfielder Fabinho has rediscovered his form in time to cement their aim for the top four.

The Brazil international, like many of his teammates, has struggled this season and that has contributed to some of The Reds’ defensive problems as the goalkeeper role has become something of a revolving door with several options tried in an attempt to find a solution . .

But Fabinho has started three of the last four games in which Liverpool kept a clean sheet, and his performance in the midweek win against Wolves showed signs that he was back at his best.

‘He is. It is obvious. Now everyone can see Fab coming back; that is of course exactly what we need,” said Klopp.

“You can’t really explain it, it’s just there, it happens. Honestly, I was so happy with Fabinho’s last game. So happy.

The Brazilian has endured a horror season in a Liverpool shirt so far

“So many things were just as we need him to be—bringing the long foot here and all that stuff.

“It was a really good game and that’s exactly how we were used to it: “the lighthouse”, “the vacuum cleaner”, all that sort of thing.

“There comes a point when you take things for granted, you lose the ball there (and you think) ‘Yeah, no problem, because there’s Fabinho’ and we have the ball again.

‘Of course you miss this kind of thing when it’s not there and how can you be prepared for that? We don’t have five number six in the club.

“It was really good and I’m really happy for him and happy for us that he really looks like his old self again.”

As a result, Fabinho will keep his place for Sunday’s visit to Manchester United, something that would have been far from guaranteed even a month ago.

The clash between England’s two most successful clubs has appeared to have lost its edge in recent seasons, with Liverpool’s 9-0 aggregate score over two games last year a sign of the rift between the two.

Under Erik ten Hag, however, United have developed into a different prospect and that has added an extra dimension to last weekend’s game at Anfield.

“Without emotion it would be a sad event, honestly I don’t think we should try. Why should we?’ said Klopp.

But it’s always about football. In football you need emotions, but also all your other skills.

“It’s not our first derby, maybe for one or two players, but it’s not even their first derby, maybe just against United.

“United are also quite a big club so it’s always huge when we face them.”

What hasn’t been as great is the number of penalties Liverpool have won this season.

They have played 32 league games without conceding a penalty, the last of which was 11 months ago at Anfield.

Jürgen Klopp said Fabinho looked like the ‘lighthouse’ and the ‘vacuum cleaner’ again on Wednesday

Liverpool will welcome Manchester United to Anfield on Sunday to retain the top four

“With all the bad statistics we had until two weeks ago, we still had the second most possession, shots on target,” Klopp said.

“Statistically, we are up there and very often in the opposition box. I’m not sure how that (no penalties) can happen, but it does.

“It’s funny not getting a penalty all this time, but I don’t think we’ve gotten much in my whole time here and we’ve had periods where we were living in the opposition’s penalty area.

“I can’t change that, but it’s cool that someone else found the stats and I didn’t have to mention it.”