Liverpool will see the return of Thiago and Ibrahima Konate from injury for the visit of Leeds on Saturday evening.
The Reds’ season has been blighted by injuries with Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota sidelined until after the World Cup.
Thiago did not travel to Amsterdam in midweek for the Champions League win over Ajax while Konate only made the bench. Jordan Henderson was substituted with a calf problem but Jurgen Klopp revealed all three should be ready for Leeds’ visit to Anfield.
The Reds manager said: “With Hendo we have to wait a little bit, it’s a knock. He was a bit stiff yesterday and only had treatment yesterday so we will see how he will be today, I expect him to be okay to be honest. Thiago is back.”
On Konate, Klopp said: “For the Ajax game, we didn’t have more subs so we could take him with us, but he was not really ready for this game. In a very serious situation in the last five minutes maybe, but he’s available now.”
Klopp confirmed Naby Keita and Joel Matip are still some way from returning to action before turning his attention to the form of Darwin Nunez. The Uruguay striker made it four goals in his last four starts on Wednesday night and Klopp is delighted with his progress but admitted it hasn’t been the easiest of starts for the summer signing.
He said: “Darwin came here after a short break, flew straight to Asia, didn’t speak a word (of English). Being young, and Liverpool’s a big club, and it’s a big step for him, and he was expensive. Then everyone judges straight away. He started well, scored v City…Fulham, then the red card. He was embarrassed and his confidence was knocked.
“Now he’s had a great month. Darwin is so exciting but he has to stay fit and be available all the time. We work on all different areas and the potential is incredible. His speed, attitude, he’s a real worker. It’s all possible to develop and learn. It’s really exciting.”
Liverpool head into the weekend eighth in the Premier League table, five points off the top four following an indifferent start to the season. Last week’s loss at Nottingham Forest saw the Reds fail to capitalise on the 1-0 win over Manchester City, although Klopp believes his team should have got more from the City Ground.
He said: “Our story is about being 1-0 down a lot. Thank God a game is not 90 minutes. Our situation is clear, I think you can see it in different ways, around the Forest game we had positive results but we cannot ignore the Forest game.
“I don’t think you should only win games when you’re outstanding and we were not that at Forest, but we should have won. We have to build a team for tomorrow, maybe a different system again and go from there.”
Liverpool versus Leeds is a 7:45pm kick off.
