Jürgen Klopp has explained that he had no doubts whatsoever over including 'proper professional' Dominic Solanke in his Merseyside derby starting XI.

The 20-year-old has been handed his second Premier League start of the season - and third for the club overall - for this afternoon's meeting with Everton at Anfield.

Solanke's opportunity comes in the absence of the likes of Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho, but the manager has full faith that the Englishman is capable of filling their shoes.

Asked about the striker's inclusion, Klopp said: "He's good enough. 

"There are a lot of English players on the pitch today so they know about the importance of the derby, for sure. 

"Dom is a footballer from head to toe, he is all around a really proper professional. I'm happy for him that he can [have this chance]."

Klopp has made six changes in total for the visit of the Toffees, continuing a recent theme of rotating his squad through a busy period.

On his team selection, he added: "It's a part of the season where you have to make the changes when you can make the changes. 

"I think all the Champions League sides, or Europa League sides, made a lot of changes [in midweek]. 

"Their games, maybe they were not as important as ours was, we had to go through a very intense game. 

"It was not intense in the physical way but in [terms of] concentration level it was and in the preparation everything was very intense. We have another game like this today so we had to make a few changes and I'm really happy to have the opportunity to do it. 

"I know that people probably say that Liverpool is flying at the moment but if we are flying today we fly out of the game. 

"We need to be ready for a proper fight, we have to show that it's our stadium, it's our home ground, and I really want to see that."