Dejan Lovren and Daniel Sturridge are doubtful ahead of the tie against Leicester as Jurgen Klopp aims for his Liverpool side to recapture their early season form.
Liverpool travel to the King Power stadium to face a Claudio Ranieri-less Leicester City but Jurgen Klopp confirmed in the pre-match conference that they are likely to be without Dejan Lovren and Daniel Sturridge, who are both struggling to be fit enough to make it to the matchday squad.
“ Daniel tried to but unfortunately we had to send him home because of a virus infection. He will probably come in today for the first time, [he needed] a few days. Dejan Lovren could not join us, but he trained today, he was running today – it was possible and he felt good. He could now do a few more steps in the right direction, so that’s good.”
Dejan Lovren will be a bigger miss for Liverpool with the Croat having established himself as a regular at Anfield under Jurgen Klopp. But, the defender is back in training, as Klopp confirmed, and the manager said it is likely to be a close call as to whether the centre-half will make it to the squad or not.
“ The knee is fine, but the pain was there. They sorted these things around [it] and I spoke to him five minutes ago and he [told me] he felt really well when he was running outside and so now he should be able to train tomorrow. He will be very, very close – tight – for the Leicester game, but having him back in training is of course good for us.”
We could see Lucas Leiva go back into the defence in case Dejan Lovren fails to make it to the starting eleven. The Brazilian has done a commendable job at playing as a makeshift centre-half and could be called upon to do the same on Monday night.
Klopp also confirmed that Georginio Wijnaldum picked up a calf injury during the midweek but is fit to feature against Leicester City. Liverpool will have to be wary of a possible Leicester City backlash in the aftermath of the sacking of Claudio Ranieri, which was, as speculated, down to a meeting between the board and the players.
A win for Liverpool could catapult the Reds to third on the table for the moment, at the very least. And Jurgen Klopp would hope Sadio Mane and company can do just that on Monday night.
