Liverpool secured the chance to ease the pressure of a crippling fixture list which will see them play two games inside 24 hours on different continents next month.
Goals by Gini Wijnaldum and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain kept the European champions in total control of their Champions League group at Anfield.
If Liverpool beat Napoli when the Italians arrive on Merseyside on November 27 they will qualify for the last 16 in top spot with a game to spare.
And that would enable Klopp to rest the kids before a hectic December schedule which sees Liverpool face a Club World Cup semi-final in Doha on December 17 and a Carabao Cup quarter-final at Aston Villa the following day.
Wijdaldum fired the Premier League leaders ahead from close range after 13 minutes.
And although Ally Mbwana Samatta headed Genk level just before the break, Oxlade-Chamberlain put the home side back in front with a smart shot on the turn seven minutes into the second half.
Here are five things we learned:
(Image: EMPICS Sport)
1) Klopp certainly had one eye on Man City
Liverpool’s boss insisted his brain wasn’t big enough to cope with thinking about Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash with the champions after Pep Guardiola branded Sadio Mane a diver.
But his decision to start with Mane, Roberto Firmino and Andy Robertson on the substitutes’ bench suggested that the German had City somewhere at the front of his mind.
Mane and Robertson came on for the last 16 minutes when they closed the game out, but they should enter Sunday suitably refreshed.
2) England calling for Oxlade-Chamberlain
Liverpool have been nursing their midfielder back to full fitness after a year-long recovery from a knee injury, but a return to the England squad cannot now be far away.
The Ox is really starting to hit his straps in terms of both performances and goals.
After playing a key role as a substitute in the come-from-behind win at Aston Villa at the weekend, he marked another Champions League start against Genk by grabbing his fourth goal in four games.
3) Milner is Liverpool’s man for all seasons
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James Milner will surely be in Liverpool’s squad for the Club World Cup – but when the Reds arrive in Qatar they might think about confiscating his passport.
Milner moved to Anfield to play games – and you can be sure that if they can find him a flight that gets him home in time he will also want to be in the team that faces Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup.
The former England international skippered the team from both full-back positions – and he produced another rock solid display which saw him set up the opening goals for Wijnaldum.
4) Did Genk expose a Liverpool flaw?
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Guardiola has been using the services of set-piece specialist Nicolas Jover – and City have already scored goals from six corners and free-kicks this season.
That’s already half as many as they scored in the whole of their title-winning campaign.
And Jover would have been an interested observer when Ally Mbwana Samatta smuggled himself in at the near post to head home from a left-wing corner.
5) Liverpool could do with a clean sheet
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Klopp’s men are flying high and home and abroad – but the Liverpool boss will want his team to tighten up.
The Reds had the meanest defence in the Premier League last season and only Leicester have conceded fewer goals this time.
But it is now just three clean sheets in 19 games for Liverpool this season and you can be sure that their manager will not want to offer the champions any kind of hope at the weekend.
