Former Liverpool defender John Arne Riise believes that a lack of squad depth could end up costing the Reds the Premier League title.

Jurgen Klopp's injury problems have been piling up this season, with Harvey Elliott, Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita all out for the long-term while James Milner, Curtis Jones and Joe Gomez have missed a chunk of games recently.

Liverpool are also set to make do without Keita, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah during next year's Africa Cup of Nations, and Riise is "scared" that a lack of options could harm their hopes of glory.

Speaking to talkSPORT, the Norwegian said: "I'm a little bit concerned about the depth in the squad. I don't think we have the top, top players when we lose (players). Like last season, when we lost (Virgil) van Dijk and a few other players, you could see we struggled.

"I'm scared it could be the same this year. When people are injured, suspended or even for the African Nations Cup when we lose some players, I'm a little bit worried that it is where the title is going decided. I don't think we are strong enough depth-wise in the long-run with Manchester City or Chelsea."

Defeat to West Ham United in Sunday's Premier League encounter leaves Liverpool fourth in the table after 11 games - four points adrift of leaders Chelsea.