Jurgen Klopp had some disappointing midfield updates to share during his pre-Brighton presser with Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara, James Milner, and Harvey Elliott all unable to play, but Naby Keita looks set to return.
It had looked as though there was some positive news from yesterday’s training sessions as our No.6 and No.8 were both spotted joining in the action but it appears the weekend’s game comes too soon for the Spaniard, as reported in a tweet from Echo journalist Paul Gorst.
Klopp confirms Naby Keita is ready for tomorrow.
"With Fabinho it doesn't look good, it's a bit complicated to keep him out, probably. No team training yet."
"Thiago trained in the whole session, but not ready to play tomorrow unfortunately."
— Paul Gorst (@ptgorst) October 29, 2021
The positive news is that our Guinean midfielder looks to be ready to play after recovering from a shin injury sustained after a red-card challenge from Paul Pogba.
Further news of our Brazilian defensive midfielder being absent is less of a surprise as he wasn’t training yesterday but is still a blow due to the lack of options in that area of the pitch.
It looks as though our midfield three for tomorrow will be Jordan Henderson, Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
That being said, there could be an immediate return for the man who scored the opener at Old Trafford last weekend in place of either of the two who played the full 90 at Deepdale on Wednesday.
It’s not as though our midfield options are limited but we have been stung by a lot of injuries at the same time.
Hopefully, we can get through the next few games and see more options return to the squad and it all starts with a positive result tomorrow, please!