Xherdan Shaqiri appears to be on his way out of Liverpool after Jurgen Klopp confirmed he was left out of the EFL Cup defeat to Arsenal on Thursday because something had happened "in the background".

The Switzerland international was expected to start the clash with Arsenal at Anfield after impressing in last week's third-round clash with Lincoln City, in which he scored a stunning free-kick. 

Harry Wilson was selected in his place, however, with Klopp saying after the game - which the Gunners won 5-4 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in normal time - he had no option but to leave the former Stoke City man out of the squad. 

When asked about Shaqiri's absence, Klopp told Sky Sports: "Some were not involved. It is the time of the year when some things happen in the background and you have to react. That is what we did."

Liverpool were much changed from their 3-1 win over Arsenal in the Premier League three days earlier and, despite the defeat, Klopp saw plenty in the performance to be excited about.

"If there would have been a winner in 90 minutes it should have been us but we are not in dreamland," he said. "You have to score.

"I liked a lot of parts of the game. We mixed it up a lot and I saw a proper performance. A penalty shoot-out is tricky, everyone knows that.

"I really liked how the boys did it. There were a lot of good individual performances.

"It could have been a Premier League game but here or there we lacked the last pass. There were not a lot of chances in this game because there was a lot of work from both teams closing each other down."