1 Feb 2016

Confirmed Team News: £65m Liverpool trio to miss Leicester; Klopp confirms 'brilliant' star is '100%' in shape

After the FA Cup stalemate with West Ham, Liverpool face Leicester City for the second time in five weeks, and although the Reds' injury issues have eased somewhat in recent week, Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that several key players will definitely miss the trip to the King Power stadium.

In his pre-match press conference today, Klopp told reporters:

“Martin needs two or three days’ more time. Divock, Phil and Daniel should return to training – Daniel on Wednesday and the other two on Thursday. That’s the plan. And Martin, I think, at the weekend".

If none of the above are back in training yet, they'll obviously play no part against Leicester, and due to match fitness issues, they surely won't be risked against Sunderland on Saturday?

The good news is that Liverpool didn't pick up any new injuries against West Ham, and with several Academy players performing well for the first team, the squad is arguably strong enough to deal with the club's ongoing injury issues.

Sakho and Toure also had a rest over the weekend, so Liverpool are suddenly have lots of cover in central defence.

As for the possibility of Sturridge being back in training; there's no point getting excited about it as the chances are he'll break down with another issue about five minutes after the session starts.

Additionally, Klopp confirmed last week that Sturridge hasn't trained with the team for almost two months, so even if he somehow contrives to survive training unscathed, he probably won't be match-fit for a long while yet.

One player with no such issues is Joe Allen. According to Klopp today:

"Joe Allen was always a first-team player. He was not in the lineup a few times, but now he is...100 percent in shape and that's the best news".

If 'brilliant' Allen is '100% in shape', and is a 'first-team player', then there's no excuse to ignore him against Leicester...right?

* Sturridge: £25m-rated. Coutinho: £30m-rated. Origi: Cost £10m.

Author: Jaimie K


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