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Virgil van Dijk. Mohamed Salah. Alisson Becker. Fabinho. Liverpool have a whole host of key names who they would suffer without, but there is one player who, even at such a young age, is pivotal to how Jurgen Klopp wants to play.

Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The England international, despite being just 20 years of age, is a significant figure in this side challenging for the Premier League title, and it has been proven on more than one occasion that Liverpool suffer without him in the team.

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Their run of back-to-back draws against Leicester and West Ham at the end of January and the start of February, form which allowed Manchester City back into the title race, came during a time when Alexander-Arnold was out of the team injured.

Those two results, in which James Milner had to play at right-back, saw the Reds look toothless and unbalanced in attack, with the young full-back's absence sorely felt.

As we could see against Fulham last time out, Alexander-Arnold's impact cannot be understated.

Sadio Mane is the man in-form for the title hopefuls right now with 11 goals in his last 11 games, but you would back Liverpool to be able to cope in his absence with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino up top - in Alexander-Arnold's case, however, there is a uniqueness to what he brings that simply cannot be replaced by anyone currently in Klopp's squad.

He had more touches of the ball than anyone else on the field with 106, and also sent in more crosses than any player on the pitch with 15 - he also made two key passes.

Along with Andy Robertson, who was responsible for the second-highest number of touches and crosses, it is clear that the full-backs play a massive role for Liverpool.

Alexander-Arnold specifically, who the Merseysiders don't really have a suitable back-up option for, is perhaps emerging as one of, if not the, most important players in Klopp's squad - you only have to see how they play and the results they get when he isn't in the team to prove that theory.

He is the youngest player in Klopp's starting XI every week, but the Liverpool academy graduate is proving that age is just a number with his extremely impacting performances.