Liverpool appear to have seen significant increases in multiple injuries ahead of their clash with Manchester City this weekend.
Jurgen Klopp’s Reds make the trip to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday lunchtime, looking to make an emphatic early title statement as they battle the defending Premier League champions in a highly-anticipated meeting of first versus second in the table.
And Liverpool’s bid to move up to the top spot appears to have been aided by the return of several players to the line-up ahead of facing City.
The Reds showed on their official website on Thursday that Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, Curtis Jones and Joe Gomez were all concerned at the final consultation at their AXA school in Kirkby.
Konate, a wonderful absentee from the Liverpool side that beat Brentford 3-0 before the foreign break to continue his mouldable form at home at Anfield Castle, and then withdrew from the France squad for a final pair of Euro 2024 qualifiers against Gibraltar and Greece.
However, Les Bleus and their coach Didier Deschamps have described his hamstring problem as minor and it looks like Konate is about to return against City as he tries to take Joel Matip’s position alongside captain Virgil van Dijk in the centre of defence.
Versatile defender Gomez also missed Brentford’s win by an unspecified knock, while summer signing Gravenberch has missed Liverpool’s last two games (unlike Toulouse and Brentford) due to a minor knee problem.
His midfield colleague Jones has been out with his own hamstring since the Carabao Cup win at Bournemouth in early November, but now looks set to face City alongside Konate, Gravenberch and Gomez.
Liverpool got an initial boost on Wednesday when it was revealed that Kostas Tsimikas’ early return from international duty with Greece and his shock omission from their meeting with France was not injury-related.
Klopp will still be without Andy Robertson against City after shoulder surgery, with Tsimikas expected to deputise once again at left-back after his two assists against Brentford.
Along with that aforementioned fit-again quartet, Liverpool’s South American internationals – Alisson Becker, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Alexis Mac Allister – were also all involved in training on Thursday.
City have plenty of injury issues to contend with against Liverpool this weekend, with striker Erling Haaland’s talisman suffering from compatibility issues after an ankle injury.
Ederson, Mateo Kovacic, Nathan Ake, Matheus Nunes and Sergio Gomez have also been injured lately, while key players Kevin De Bruyne and John Stones are still unavailable.
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