As Liverpool prepares for their trip to West Ham, Jurgen Klopp provided injury updates on three players
Naby Keita hasn’t played in any of Liverpool’s last nine league games due to recurring injury issues.
However, he is getting closer to his latest return, and Klopp provided an update on the midfielder’s fitness.
“If everything goes well today [Tuesday], he could be in partial training today,” the German said. His own program, not full training. “A lot closer.”
He will not play against West Ham.
Meanwhile, Klopp revealed that Ibrahima Konate had an issue this week but is “confident” that he will play against West Ham.
Konate has appeared in nine of Liverpool’s last nine games, but he frequently suffers minor injuries.
“We’ll see how it goes with Ibou, but for the time being, I’m rather optimistic,” the manager explained.
On Sunday, Roberto Firmino is also out against West Ham and Tottenham.
After being ruled out, there were concerns that he had played his final game for Liverpool, given the tendency for injuries to last longer than expected this season.
Klopp, however, denied this, saying, “This week, no, but at the end of the week, I hope he’s closer.”
Liverpool now has four games in 11 days, which means rotation is likely after fielding the same 11 for three straight games.
Klopp said of his unchanged lineups, “Sometimes you start the same lineup because you don’t have alternatives, but this time is different.”
“We also had the option to begin differently. In the few sessions we’ve had, it’s clear that the players must demonstrate [that] they want to start again, and the others must demonstrate that they want to start.”
Luis Diaz and Thiago have yet to make an appearance since returning from layoffs.
The latter is more likely to win this one than the former, as Diaz is still regaining match fitness after being out for over six months.
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