Liverpool travel to the south coast of England on Sunday for the lunch-time kick-off against AFC Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, when a win will see them keep pace with leaders Chelsea.
Liverpool left it very last weekend as goals from Divock Origi and James Milner in the dying stages of the match took the Reds to a 2-0 win over Sunderland. The win ensured that they remained second in the Premier League table, a point behind Antonio Conte’s Chelsea.
With Chelsea romping to a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Manchester City on Saturday, Liverpool have a chance to go outright second, pulling three clear of the Citizens who have fallen down to fourth following Arsenal’s 5-1 win over West Ham United. Here’s the team news for Sunday afternoon’s match.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp only has four players out with injury ahead of the match against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium. Midfielder Sheyi Ojo and striker Danny Ings who had been out with back and knee injuries, respectively, have been joined on the treatment table by attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho (ankle) and striker Daniel Sturridge (calf) this week.
The Reds were rocked by the injury to highly influential, talismanic Brazilian Philippe Coutinho in the win over Sunderland last Saturday. The attacking midfielder hurt his ankle midway through the first half, and scans were scheduled earlier in the week to reveal the extent of the injury.
Those scans revealed that Coutinho is set to face a five-week spell on the sidelines, much to the relief of Liverpool fans who feared a long-term injury layoff. The Brazil international will now only return to action in 2017. Meanwhile, Daniel Sturridge has suffered another in a long list of injury setbacks in recent seasons last week, and is now set to miss a third match on the bounce with a calf strain.
The Liverpool boss, though, also updated with positive news on a couple of players, with Klopp having the luxury to choose from a full set of defenders and midfielders on Sunday. The best piece of news is that midfielder Adam Lallana is back in training. The energetic midfielder missed the last two league games after sustaining a groin injury on international duty for England last month.
Meanwhile, Roberto Firmino, too, resumed training this week after picking up a calf issue during the win over Sunderland. The Brazil international, along with Lallana, is expected to slot right back into the starting lineup on Sunday. Giving updates on possible changes on Sunday, Klopp said in his press conference: “There will be a few changes, probably. I’m happy about each player that is back in training.”
On Lallana and Firmino’s returns, he added: “Adam has been training since Thursday; yesterday was the first session and he looked good. Having him back is cool. Roberto trained yesterday, too. That’s important. We have to see how they react and that’s it.”
