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Mark Lawrenson has explained that Fabinho is going to have a much tougher task on the weekend if he is once again used as a centre-back.

With Virgil van Dijk sidelined through injury, central midfielder Fabinho dropped back into a centre-half position in midweek during the 1-0 victory away to Ajax in the Champions League group stages.

The 27-year-old has proven himself to be a top-class defensive midfielder during his time at Anfield so far, but he’s looked a complete natural in the backline as well.

Jurgen Klopp has used the versatile Brazilian in the heart of defence on a few occasions and it looks like he could be a solution to the current problem of having centre-backs out injured.

The Reds are focusing on Saturday night’s home game against Sheffield United in the Premier League and Lawrenson has suggested that it would be a much tougher test for Fabinho if deployed at centre-back again.

“With Virgil van Dijk injured, Fabinho played well at centre-back against Ajax on Wednesday night but I think it will be harder for him if he stands in again there on Saturday,” Lawrenson told BBC Sport.

“Fabinho will be fine in open play, it is from set-pieces where I’d worry about him. Van Dijk was such a massive influence when it came to defending corners and free-kicks – he basically had a magnet on his head.

“Sheffield United will be trying to test Liverpool in those situations, especially with Adrian in goal.”

TBR’s View:

Of course, Fabinho isn’t going to provide the same kind of aerial threat as man mountain Van Dijk, but any team in the world would miss his presence in both penalty areas.

Fabinho could be in for a real physical battle if he plays against the likes of Old McBurnie or David McGoldrick, but he’s such an intelligent player where his positioning and reading of the game will be a big advantage in his favour.

It’s not a sole responsibility on Fabinho to defend set-pieces and it’s got to be a group collective, which is why it’ll be no surprise if the team has been busy working on that in training ahead of the weekend’s fixture.