Jurgen Klopp has said that Thiago and Luis Diaz won’t be available to feature for Liverpool against Chelsea on Tuesday night.
The Spain midfielder has now missed two months of action with a hip flexor injury (Transfermarkt), while the Colombian attacker hasn’t featured in almost six months due to a long-term knee problem (Transfermarkt).
Elsewhere, the trio of Naby Keita, Stefan Bajcetic and Calvin Ramsay are sidelined, with no return date set for those three players and the latter two missing for the rest of the season (Premier Injuries).
Darwin Nunez did at least come off the bench in Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Manchester City, having missed the international break due to an ankle problem, but the Uruguayan won’t be joined by Diaz or Thiago tomorrow night.
Speaking in today’s press conference ahead of the Chelsea game, Klopp said of the Colombian: “He’s not available but he’s in training. He’s not ready for this game. As much as we want him to be back, we have to give him time.
“It’s long ago, the initial injury, but when he came back to training in Dubai it looked outstanding until he got injured again, so we have to make sure that we are patient.”
Regarding the 31-year-old, the Reds manager said: “We had Thiago yesterday in normal team training, which is good as well, but he’s not available for tomorrow, so we will see how he reacts.”
It’s obviously disappointing that he and Diaz will be missing again for the clash at Stamford Bridge.
However, with the games coming thick and fast at the start of April, Liverpool are right to be cautious about sanctioning the duo’s returns prematurely, especially given the importance of the run-in as the chase for a top-four finish intensifies.
You can catch Klopp’s press conference in full below, via @LFC on YouTube: