Jurgen Klopp is delighted to have some attacking options to choose from after Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi all returned to fitness.
All three featured in Tuesday’s FA Cup fourth-round replay defeat to West Ham United to join Roberto Firmino and Christian Benteke in the forward ranks.
Danny Ings is now the only striker currently not available to Klopp, who has admitted that he has choices to make ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Aston Villa.
But the German has admitted that he needs to be wary of pushing the returning trio too hard and risking further injury ahead of a week of huge fixtures for Liverpool.
“We need to think about how long he [Sturridge] can manage but he made a big step in the last week,” Klopp is quoted by ESPN as saying. “I’ve made no final decisions about lineup but until now, everything is like it should be.
“Having [Coutinho and Origi] back is very important but we have to manage their minutes. If you look closely, a few players have played lot of games, maybe too much, and if you were injured you don’t come back in the best shape of your career.
“Phil played a little less, 55 minutes, he had the normal sessions with the team yesterday. All of them are in a good way and for us it’s great news.”
After our visit to Villa Park, we host Augsburg in the first leg of our Europa League last 32 tie on Thursday, and then face Manchester City in the Capital One Cup final on Sunday.
Klopp is completely right to balance the schedule of Sturridge and Coutinho in particular. If they are to get minutes at Villa, they should sit out in Europe and be saved for Wembley.
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