Brendan Rodgers is returning to Anfield with Leicester City but is faced with a similar level of fitness issues to his successor at Liverpool, with both men handed a selection headache for the game.
Speaking with the media ahead of the match, the Northern Irishman provided an update on James Maddison: “He won’t be available for the game. He was with Mark [Waller], our doctor, getting some special advice in London today so I’ll wait to hear from them later on.
“He hasn’t trained with the squad. He was clearly getting treatment out [in Qatar] and he and the medical team deemed him okay to train. He was available for games (for England). He’s come back here, looked to do some work, and then felt a pain in a different part of his knee.
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“The medical team have assessed that. He tried to go out and do some multidirectional work and he was getting a pain from that. The medical team and the Club have gone down to London to get another opinion on it and to see where he’s at. That’s where we’re up to at this moment in time”.
Then came an update on Dennis Praet: “He won’t be available either. He’s still sore and struggling with his side so we’ll look to see where he’s at.”
Our official club website also reported: ‘Rodgers reported ‘no more’ fresh fitness concerns when he spoke to the media to preview the contest on Wednesday, though Ryan Bertrand, Jonny Evans, James Justin and Ricardo Pereira are sidelined’.
With his side sat in 13th place, our former boss has managed to climb away from the relegation scrap they were in a few games ago but these fitness concerns will hamper the prospect of further progression in the league.
Jurgen Klopp, despite his own fitness problems, will hope that we can capitalise on the Foxes’ misfortune and record a much-needed win on our return to home Premier League action.
You can view Rodgers’ fitness update via LCFC on YouTube: