Liverpool have badly missed Sadio Mane throughout January.
That much is simply undeniable.
Not only has our defence been shoddy, but our goals have dried up – largely because of our top scorer’s absence at the African Cup of Nations.
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Providing his Senegal side lose to Cameroon on Saturday though, we might actually have him back for the Chelsea clash on January 31st…
Senegal’s game is Saturday 28th, and while they’re favourites to beat Cameroon (who’ve caused us so many problems with Joel Matip…) in tournament football, anything can happen.
That means there’ll be three days between their game and ours at home to Chelsea. It’s not long, but not too dissimilar from when Mane would usually return from Africa in a regular international break before a Premier League weekend, for example.
If Cameroon win, that’s a call Jurgen Klopp will have to make. If Senegal win however, there’ll be a semi-final on Wednesday February 1, then a guaranteed extra match either in the 3rd place play off (February 4) or the final (February 5).
So really, despite wanting Mane to do well, we could really do with Cameroon pulling off an upset this weekend!