Jurgen Klopp has finally received some good news regarding Liverpool’s injury crisis with Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai under consideration to return against Nottingham Forest on Saturday - and Mo Salah hoping to resume training in time to face Manchester City.
Klopp’s challenge for four trophies has been severely hampered by having 13 on the injured list but he was glad to report some green shoots of recovery on Friday.
‘Darwin and Dom trained yesterday with the team so we will see how they react,’ revealed the Liverpool manager.
‘Robbo (Andy Robertson) and Wataru Endo plan to join in today. Macca (Alexis Mac Allister) was ill for a couple of days and Robbo the same and we hope that doesn’t spread.’
Klopp also confirmed that Salah, who has been suffering from a thigh problem will be able to resume training next week which would bring him into contention to face City on March 10.
Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez has returned to training after a recent injury lay-off
Dominik Szoboszlai is also back in training for the Reds as their injury crisis begins to ease
Jurgen Klopp has confirmed Mohamed Salah will not be available to face Nottingham Forest, but he could be back to play Man City next week
Szoboszlai has been out for a month with a similar injury while Nunez was taken off at half-time at Brentford with a muscular problem and missed Liverpool’s last three games.
Diogo Jota, Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ryan Gravenberch and Curtis Jones head a list of other players still out.
Liverpool have navigated a difficult period for injuries by dipping into younger players who have come from the club’s academy.
They helped the Reds lift the Carabao Cup against Chelsea last weekend with all the academy staff included in the club picture taken for internal use at the training ground on Thursday.
‘It was really cool and I felt a lot of pride and joy after the Southampton win as well but now we have to be ready for Forest. I still couldn’t give the definite line-up because we have to be flexible,’ added Klopp.
‘Until we get asked about four possible trophies, we don’t think for a second about it. It is not important - we have to get through all these situations with as many points as is possible.’
Jurgen Klopp has warned his players they can't afford to take their eye off the ball as they remain in the hunt for four trophies
Liverpool, who currently head the Premier League table, will want to take advantage of playing on Saturday before rivals Manchester City and Arsenal have their fixtures.
But Klopp warns: ‘Nottingham are similar to us in that they need to win football games to reach their target.
‘They aren’t easy with the counter-attacking threat they have. They have speed and can go direct.
‘One point above City and two above Arsenal means nothing at this stage. We better keep winning football games.’