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EXETER. — Liverpool are one step away from Wembley in the League Cup, but have been promised a testing start to their FA Cup soccer campaign by underdogs Exeter City tonight.

A 1-0 victory at Stoke City in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final on Tuesday night has put Jurgen Klopp’s side in a strong position to reach the final at the end of February.

Liverpool will be without Dejan Lovren, Kolo Toure and Philippe Coutinho for tonight’s FA Cup third-round match at fourth-tier Exeter City.

All three picked up injuries in the 1-0 win over Stoke City in the first leg of their Capital One (League) Cup semi-final on Tuesday.

Croatia defender Lovren and Brazil playmaker Coutinho will also miss Premier League games against Arsenal and Manchester United, manager Juergen Klopp told a news conference yesterday.

“Phil’s injury is more serious than Dejan and Kolo but none of these players will be available tomorrow (today),” Klopp said.

“Kolo should be available next week, Dejan will be available after Manchester United. Phil needs one to two weeks longer.” The German said he would be forced into fielding a makeshift side against Exeter.

“The team that plays tomorrow (today) will want to win this game 100 percent but it will be a team that hasn’t played together too often,” added Klopp.

“I don’t know who will be available. We will train in two hours and see who will play.”

Klopp also responded to Sunderland counterpart Sam Allardyce’s allegations that the high-intensity pressing strategy he has introduced at Anfield was responsible for the injury crisis.

“I’m glad for Sam, that such an experienced manager has time to think about Liverpool’s problems,” the German said.

“The problem is that, in this situation, we speak about the intensity of my style. I didn’t create this style, how could I? I’m not a genius.

“We try to be successful but you need a little bit of luck, we haven’t had this,” added Klopp. Liverpool are odds-on to overcome fourth-tier Exeter in tonight’s FA Cup third-round tie, but Exeter’s manager, Paul Tisdale, says a run of four straight defeats does not reflect how his team have been playing.

“I’d rather have been winning games going into the match, but I happen to think that we have been playing pretty well,” said Tisdale, whose side have reached round three for the first time since 2005.

“Although we have lost games, I don’t think we have looked like a side that has suddenly lost our energy and our purpose.

“On the contrary, I think we have gained some, but unfortunately it hasn’t manifested itself in any results. We have to gather confidence from that.”

Exeter currently sit 16th in England’s bottom division, 76 places below Liverpool in the English league system.

But Tisdale, in charge since 2006, says that his team will take the fight to Liverpool as they look to pull off a result comparable to their 0-0 draw against Manchester United at this stage of the tournament 11 years ago.

“It’s a compromise between how much you risk, but what we don’t want to do is just go into the game to defend,” said the former Southampton defender.

“We are not just looking to sit back and hold on. I don’t want to do that. I think we need to have some intent about us. I don’t think we should hold back and wait for the game to happen.

“We need to go out and give it a go and get the balance right between risk and reward. Win, lose or draw, we want to finish the game having given a good and positive account of ourselves.” — AFP.