Liverpool welcome Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League this weekend and Jurgen Klopp has provided fitness updates on some of his key players.
The first player is Joe Gomez who has been on the sidelines with a knee injury for a couple of months now.
The young defender was scheduled to return back to action at the end of January but the manager later revealed that Joe Gomez would have to undergo a surgery which further pushed back his return date.
Now though the manager has claimed the central-defender has almost returned back to full fitness and he is expected to make a return pretty soon.
‘It is nice – Joe is not injured anymore and nearly fit,’ Klopp said of Gomez on Tuesday.
‘He will not be in the afternoon training session because he has to do something else – he has to work on his endurance, that’s how it is and how the boys always have to do it like Ox had to do it when he was finally back in training.
‘After a long time, I think Joe was out for 15 weeks, that is long, so he needs to now create the basis again for the rest of the season.’
Alex Oxlade Chamberlain was scheduled to return sometime after the international break but the England international suffered a setback on his recovery during a U-23 game earlier this month.
But the manager has claimed that Ox is almost close to full fitness and should make a comeback soon.
‘I spoke to him a second ago; Ox is positive, we are all positive,’ Klopp said.
‘It was a little setback, it was not more, but it was a setback. That’s how it is.
‘You don’t want to be overly sensitive after a period like this because they train a lot – training is always like this, it’s like stress for the body. You feel something, but you don’t want to mention everything because it [can be] DOMS [delayed onset muscle soreness].
‘It was the case with him, it was a little bit more than DOMS, but not really [serious]. We are careful of course, he is working, he is doing a lot and I think will be in training in a week again. Then he will be fine.’
Mo Salah has been given the time off during the international break and some rumours claimed that the Egyptian could be carrying a slight injury niggle.
But Klopp put a rest to those rumours too.
‘Now he will be here, a full week to prepare for the rest of the season, so that’s cool,’Klopp said.
‘I spoke to him, he looked really relaxed and in a good mood. Now, let’s go.’
So it is pretty clear that Mo Salah should feature in the first XI vs Spurs this weekend in the Premier League but the duo of Joe Gomez and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain will unfortunately not make it to the matchday squad on Sunday.
Read: The Lilywhites could be without 3 first-team stars at Anfield this Sunday.
Read: Jurgen Klopp to miss six key players this Sunday vs Spurs?
