Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is hopeful Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai will be fit to face Nottingham Forest on Saturday, but Mohamed Salah will not feature at the City Ground.
Neither Nunez nor Salah have played since Liverpool’s 4-1 win over Brentford on February 17th, having both suffered muscle injuries.
The forward duo missed the Reds’ dramatic EFL Cup final win over Chelsea last week, as well as victories against Luton Town in the Premier League and Southampton in the FA Cup.
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Hungary international Szoboszlai has been sidelined since suffering the recurrence of a hamstring issue at the end of January, missing Liverpool’s last six matches.
Meanwhile, Alexis Mac Allister and Andy Robertson were ill during the week as Liverpool’s selection crisis threatened to worsen, but Klopp was able to offer a broadly positive update on Friday.
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“Darwin and Dom trained yesterday with the team, they look good but we have to wait for how they react,” Klopp said at his pre-match press conference.
“Wataru [Endo] and Robbo didn’t train, but the plan is that they join in today. That’s our idea but we’ll see if it works out.
“They all look fine, Macca was ill for one or two days and the same for Robbo, so hopefully that didn’t spread. We will see.”
Asked specifically for an update on Salah’s progress, Klopp said: “I don’t think Mo is too far out, but he will not feature tomorrow.
“We have to go from there. It’s possible [he’s back] at any point next week. He’s on the way back definitely, but he’s not there yet.”
Liverpool’s injury woes have enabled a group of young players to step up, with Jayden Danns and Lewis Koumas among the goals in Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Southampton just three days after Bobby Clark and James McConnell starred in the EFL Cup final.
While Klopp takes immense pride from seeing Liverpool’s academy prospects flourish, he says the role of the Reds’ more experienced players cannot be overstated.
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“It’s a full squad achievement, I think we all agree if you put all the young boys on together, we have no chance because you need to be led, you need to be guided on the pitch,” Klopp said.
“I congratulated the senior players with how they dealt with the [Chelsea] game. It’s all about your mindset. They enjoyed having the young boys around, so that was wonderful.
“Usually, when we win a trophy, we do a staff picture. Yesterday we did it with all the academy staff as well, so there was a lot of people in here and this picture was wonderful.
“I wanted everyone to understand the role they played in that whole story, and that was really cool. But two days later, we play Forest, and we have to find solutions.
“It’s a tricky time and we have to find ways to keep it positive. It’s 12:30pm on matchday minus one, and if you asked me for an idea of the team, I couldn’t tell you.”
