Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp shed some light on the availability of Mohamed Salah, Xherdan Shaqiri and Naby Keïta after The Reds’ emphatic 3-0 victory over a high-flying Leicester City team on Sunday evening.
Klopp’s side moved up to second in the Premier League, trailing Spurs on goal difference, thanks to the victory at Anfield. Goals from Jonny Evans (own goal), Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino and a rock-solid defensive performance from Alisson Becker, James Milner, Fabinho, Joël Matip and Andy Robertson meant it was a comfortable night all round for Liverpool.
The only negative point was another injury concern for Klopp when Keïta had to go off injured in the second half. He was replaced by young Neco Williams. Milner moved to take over Keïta’s position in midfield with Williams slotting into what had been Milner’s place at right-back.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Klopp confirmed that Keita’s injury was a hamstring issue while also revealing why Shaqiri was unavailable for the Leicester game:
“He [Keïta] felt his hamstring and was not able to play on, otherwise he would have stayed on the pitch.
“Shaq, how I know it, he had a muscle injury with the national team which he didn’t really realise.
“Now he trained with us, we gave him a day off and then he came back and was involved in the session, but was not fully involved and all these kind of things. He just did a little bit, after that he felt a little bit. Then we did a scan and they found he has an injury from five or six days ago.
“Nobody knew about that, not even Shaq knew about it, but that’s how things sometimes are and so he was not able to be involved.”
Klopp also gave on update on Salah’s COVID-19 situation:
“That’s what I’ve heard, yes, it [was] negative today [Salah’s latest COVID-19 test].
“I think he is from now on pretty normal in testing. Tomorrow we have the UEFA testing for the Champions League and I am pretty sure he will be in that.
“He can now train with us tomorrow, that’s it. He will have two tests in the next two days, so, yes, he will be tested like all of us.”
The game (and injuries) continue to come thick and fast for Liverpool. Next up, it’s Atalanta at Anfield on Wednesday night in the Champions League before they face Brighton away in the early game on Saturday.
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