Jurgen Klopp is hopeful rather than confident that his star strikers Mo Salah and Sadio Mane will be available for Liverpool‘s visit to Chelsea on Sunday 2 January – a game that could have a signifcant bearing on the destiny of the Premier League title.
Fifa regulations state that countries competing in the African Cup of Nations can demand the release of players 13 days before the tournament starts in Cameroon on January 9.
That would rule Salah, Mane and midfielder Naby Keita out of not only the key game at Stamford Bridge but also the trip to Leicester on December 28.
But Liverpool are in talks with Egypt, Senegal and Guinea in order to gain special dispensation for the trio to join up with their respective countries after the Chelsea fixture.
Klopp said: “It’s not decided yet. I am an optimistic person so I hope so, but it’s not written in stone. It is not completely in our hands. Confident is not the right word but I hope so.”
Mane and Keita are due to play for Senegal and Guinea respectively in their opening fixtures on January 10 while Salah will be expected to spearhead Egypt’s attack in their opening group game on January 11.
Depending on far the progress of their respective countries, the three players could be away for up to six weeks during a crucial period of the season when Liverpool will not only be involved in important League games but also possibly the EFL Cup semi-finals – if they beat Leicester in the last eight – and the FA Cup third and fourth rounds.
The European Club Association (ECA) has already expressed its “deep concern” around the safety of players scheduled to take part in the African tournament following the recent emergence of the omicron variant of Covid-19 which has prompted a number of nations to reintroduce lock down measures and tighten regulations for those entering a country.
Meanwhile Salah, who has been occasionally accused of being too selfish in the past, is not only the Premier League’s leading scorer with 13 goals but also tops the “assists” table with eight prompting Klopp to say the striker’s greater experience is helping him make better decisions in front of goal.
“He was never criticised by us for being too selfish because he never was,” said Klopp. “A striker who is in a situation where we want him to finish it off from time to time overlooks a team-mate who is in a better position – that is completely normal
“What helps a lot is experience, being in similar situations plenty of times means that you know what happens when we are there. Mo now has the experience, he is calm enough, he didn’t lose any kind of greed for scoring and has developed technically again.
“When he sees someone in a better position for sure he passes the ball there. But when he thinks he can finish it off himself I expect him to finish it off himself.”
Liverpool’s status as the Premier League’s most prolific attack – they are averaging more than three a game – will be challenged at Molineux on Saturday where they face the top flight’s joint third-best defence.
Wolves have conceded only 12 in 14 games with Klopp saying “they are not famous for conceding a lot – and not even conceding a lot of shots on goal – so you have to be creative for sure.”
He is set to name an unchanged team following the 4-1 demolition of Everton in the Merseyside derby in midweek.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/32NH4yu
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