The Christmas and New Year period features a number of games coming in thick and fast and fortunately for the Reds, they have not picked up a lot of injuries that could have derailed their top four challenge.
The biggest injury concern for the Reds has been Philippe Coutinho and it seems the Brazilian will be coming back to the team at the start of the New Year and could face Manchester City in a huge clash. The absence of the Brazilian has not affected the Liverpool attack all that much but the results have been hit.
Coutinho was easily one of the best players in the Premier League prior to his injury while playing against Sunderland and will be looking to guide Liverpool to a number of victories as soon as he returns.
While Coutinho should be looking to return soon, there is concern about the injury to Joel Matip. The 25-year-old Cameroon star has not played in the last two games and he has been the best defender for the Reds this season.
Fortunately for Klopp’s side, they have not conceded in the two games missed by the former Schalke man but the concern is that they are unsure about when he might return. The German manager had stated that Matip does not require any surgery on his ankle but Liverpool would be hoping the player returns to the side sooner rather than later.
‘There will be no surgery,’ said Klopp
‘It is only about resting the injury or not. Try it every day or give it a few days. That is what we already did. Against West Ham it was possible to play, but then against Middlesbrough it was not. Bournemouth he was involved in the squad and then we made the decision.
‘It is not perfect because we have no time so you can’t say “this game isn’t really important” or whatever.
No new injury issues
As stated earlier, the Reds don’t really have too many injury concerns at the moment. Danny Ings and Adam Bogdan are still injured due to long-term issues and probably won’t play this season again. Bogdan was away on loan at Wigan but picked up an ACL injury and now is recuperating back at Liverpool according to Liverpool Echo.
Ings picked up an injury just when it looked like he was going to return to the match day squad for the Reds and now will have to prepare for the next season. Marko Grujic though is the latest player to have re-joined the training squad of the side. The Serbian midfielder has played a number of games in the EFL Cup and had picked up a tendon injury.
Liverpool are having a great season so far and if they can avoid long-term injuries to their star players, they could end up at least finishing in the top four. The Reds certainly need to be careful playing the high-pressing game that Klopp has employed at the club but the rewards are there for all to see.
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