Jurgen Klopp provided an injury update ahead of the Premier League opener against Fulham with Alisson Becker’s return to the team sheet confirmed by the Liverpool head coach.
Alisson had sat out Liverpool’s Community Shield win over Manchester City last weekend with an injury but the Brazilian had been expected to work his way to full fitness in the build to the Craven Cottage showdown on Saturday.
Speaking in his pre-match presser, Klopp revealed that Alisson will be making his way back into the XI while Curtis Jones, Kostas Tsimikas and Ibrahima Konate remain sidelined for the opening day clash.
Midfield man Naby Keita, however, will have his fitness subject to further assessment after an illness sidelined him from last weekend’s win over Man City at the King Power Stadium.
“Ali [is] fine. We hope with Curtis we caught it in the right moment, that’s just how it is with young players. They have some kind of stress reactions sometimes and then if they go over it because it’s not massive pain, it could lead to something serious.
“We caught it early but we still have to be careful. That’s it with him, so he is not in.
“Naby is ill, but I think he will be back today the first day. I underestimated it a little bit when I said he will definitely be fine. He came in yesterday and still showed some little symptoms, no COVID but it is not right. I guess he will be back today.
“Then Kostas [was] unlucky in a training situation. I saw him now, he was out on the pitch and he might be – in his opinion, anyway – ready to train next week, which is helpful. Ibou, in a challenge in the game against Strasbourg, what happened there we have to see how long it will take but he is out for a while. Oxlade [is also out], of course.”
Diogo Jota and Caoimhin Kelleher are the other injury absentees for Liverpool’s trip to Fulham with the duo, who suffered injuries during the pre-season tour this summer, working on their respective rehabilitation programmes.
“[Kelleher] is still a few weeks away.
“We have too many injuries, that’s true, but in the moment nothing changed. There were a lot of unlucky situations; started with Caoimhin, started with Diogo pretty much. One was injured, the other one got a re-injury, it was not 100 per cent clear.
“There’s no criticism, because you made a story of everything that I say but it is like this – he’s with the national team, both of them were with their national teams. There is a diagnosis, we get the diagnosis, we trust the diagnosis, that’s completely normal, but you are not in the full process all the time. The national team takes over in moments, we try to step in as early as possible.
“Diogo it was obviously slightly too early, or the injury was different in the first place. They are already fine and in a few weeks they will be back.”
