Liverpool could soon welcome back Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai, with Pep Lijnders specifying a projected return date for the pair.
The Hungary midfielder incurred a thigh injury earlier this month which has kept him out since the win over Newcastle on New Year’s Day, while the Reds’ vice-captain suffered a knee ligament tear a fortnight ago, having last played in the FA Cup win at Arsenal on 7 January.
Speaking to the media this morning ahead of the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Fulham tomorrow night, Jurgen Klopp’s assistant is hopeful of having both players back for the FA Cup tie at home to Norwich on Sunday.
Lijnders said (via liverpoolfc.com): “Trent is progressing well through his rehab, working hard – how he is as a guy, knowing how important the next weeks are. He will back in the end of the week for team training, so hopefully he will be available for the FA Cup.
“Dom trained yesterday with us, just one small-sided game, one-touch game, but played good, felt good, did some extra work with the sports science team. He is ready but tomorrow comes too early for him, so he will be ready for the weekend if nothing goes wrong.”
The imminent returns of Trent and Szoboszlai, on top of Lijnders confirming that Andy Robertson and Curtis Jones are both clear to travel with the squad for the Fulham game tomorrow night, will be greeted with delight by Liverpool fans as a top-heavy injury list finally begins to subside.
While injuries are never welcome in football, the silver lining with the Reds’ number 8 and 66 is that their absences coincided with a rare 11-day mid-season break, so they haven’t actually missed out on much game-time.
The Hungarian’s return bolsters midfield depth at a time when Wataru Endo is away at the Asian Cup, while the vice-captain can also be deployed in the middle of the park if Klopp prefers not to halt the momentum that Conor Bradley is building up with his impressive displays at right-back.
At least it appears as if the Liverpool manager could have room for discretion when it comes to selecting his line-ups, having had his hand forced for the most part in the win at Bournemoth on Sunday and the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final a fortnight ago.
This multi-faceted team news boost comes as the perfect antidote to Mo Salah’s body blow and should make the Reds an even more formidable proposition for opponents.
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Very amazing