Jurgen Klopp has received a timely boost with the news that Mo Salah has tested negative for Covid-19 and is able to resume first-team training with Liverpool immediately after missing Sunday’s 3-0 win over Leicester City.
Salah tested positive three times for Covid-19 after attending his brother’s wedding while on international duty in Egypt and despite being allowed to fly back to the UK on a private plane on Friday, he was unable to face Leicester at Anfield.
Speaking after Liverpool’s win over the Foxes, which was sealed by a Jonny Evans own goal and finishes from Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino, Klopp confirmed that Salah would be able to take part in training at the club’s new AXA Training Centre on Monday.
“That’s what I’ve heard, yes, it [was] negative today,” Klopp revealed. “I think he is from now on pretty normal in testing. Tomorrow we have the Uefa testing for the Champions League and I am pretty sure he will be in that.
“He can now train with us tomorrow, that’s it. He will have two tests in the next two days, so, yes, he will be tested like all of us.”
Assuming Salah comes through Liverpool’s training sessions unscathed and tests negative for Covid-19 once more in Uefa’s latest round of testing, he will be in contention to face Atalanta in the Champions League on Wednesday night as well as Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
Although Liverpool did not miss Salah at the weekend he has started the season strongly and is the club’s leading scorer with 10 goals in all competitions, ahead of Jota (eight), Sadio Mane (five) and Firmino (two).
While Salah’s imminent return is good news for Klopp, two more players have been added to Liverpool’s injury list as Naby Keita had to be replaced against Leicester with a hamstring injury while Xherdan Shaqiri missed the game entirely due to a muscular issue.
“He [Keita] felt his hamstring and was not able to play on, otherwise he would have stayed on the pitch,” Klopp said after the Guinean midfielder had to be replaced by right back Neco Williams – a switch that resulted in James Milner being shifted into central midfield.
Explaining Shaqiri’s absence, Klopp said: “Shaq, how I know it, he had a muscle injury with the national team which he didn’t really realise.
“Now he trained with us, we gave him a day off and then he came back and was involved in the session, but was not fully involved and all these kind of things. He just did a little bit, after that he felt a little bit. Then we did a scan and they found he has an injury from five or six days ago.
“Nobody knew about that, not even Shaq knew about it, but that’s how things sometimes are and so he was not able to be involved.”
Liverpool were bolstered by the return of Fabinho against Leicester following a three week lay-off with a hamstring injury and the Brazilian performed well alongside Joel Matip in the heart of the defence to keep Jamie Vardy nullified.
Liverpool’s injury list in full
- Virgil Van Dijk – knee (+6 months)
- Joe Gomez – knee (+6 months)
- Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – knee (unknown)
- Trent Alexander-Arnold – calf (two weeks)
- Naby Keita – hamstring (2-6 weeks)
- Xherdan Shaqiri – muscular injury (unknown)
- Jordan Henderson – thigh (will undergo assessment)
- Thiago Alcantara – knee (will undergo assessment)
Both Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcantara missed the weekend’s win with thigh and knee injuries respectively but will undergo assessment to determine whether or not they can feature against Atalanta in midweek.
Klopp has been a frequent critic of the congested fixture schedule this season and accused the Premier League’s broadcasters Sky Sports and BT Sport of “not caring” about the welfare of the players.
“It was never about us when I talked about it, it was about all the players. If you don’t start talking to BT [Sport] we are all done,” Klopp told Sky Sports after the game on Sunday.
“Sky and BT have to talk because if we keep playing on Wednesday and Saturday [at] 12:30, I’m not sure if we will finish the season with 11 players. I know you [the broadcasters] don’t care and that’s the problem. We’ve discussed it for a long time and nothing’s happened.”
Follow i sport on Facebook for more Liverpool news, interviews and features
More on Liverpool
- The conversation that convinced Werner to reject Liverpool and sign for Chelsea
- Meet the £11.75m star signed by Liverpool to act as Robertson’s understudy
- ‘The Kop went wild!’: Remembering when Liverpool last won the title
- Barnes exclusive: ‘Could I have played in this Liverpool team? Great players fit into any era’
- How Liverpool’s homegrown champion normalised his own brilliance
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3kY2jBh
Post a Comment