Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that he is not sure about the availability of Roberto Firmino for the final game of the season against Middlesbrough. Liverpool managed to put themselves in the driver’s seat in the race for the Champions League spot, after a spectacular 4-0 win over West Ham. The victory now sees the club within touching distance of the Premier League top four. Liverpool will be able to seal a place in the Champions League qualification spot if they win the game against Middlesbrough, irrespective of other results that happen in the Premier League.
Manchester City and Arsenal are the other contenders for the final Champions League qualification spot. While the Gunners are up against Sunderland and Everton are in the final two matches of the season, City will be taking on West Bromwich Albion and Watford. But if Liverpool manage to win their game against Boro, other results will not have any impact on their chances of a top-four finish.
The second half of the campaign has been extremely tough on us as we had to compete without some key players for major chunks of the season. Injury problems faced by the likes of Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho, Sadio Mane, and Roberto Firmino coupled with Mane also departing for the African Cup of Nations in January meant that the club’s form fell rapidly in the second half. After having been in a position to challenge for the title for much of the first half, Klopp will be relatively satisfied if we managed to cling onto a top-four finish.
The threat from Arsenal has grown in recent weeks with the Gunners managing four wins in the last five games. However, Liverpool have been able to maintain a sufficient advantage over Arsene Wenger’s men to put themselves on the verge of a top four.
Even if Roberto Firmino is unavailable for the game against Middlesbrough, Klopp would have seen enough from the match against West Ham that he has options going forward. One of those options is Daniel Sturridge, who scored the opening goal against the Hammers. While Klopp praised the performances of the England striker, he once again hinted about the persistent injury problems faced with the striker as a key reason behind his inability to feature regularly in the starting line-up. He told in the Post-match press conference (Metro),
“Hopefully Roberto is coming back which will give us another option. Not a real idea, but it’s a bigger chance than for this game today.
“He’s [Sturridge] a good player. He is not that often available but it’s all good. I thought he was brilliant. Roberto out and Daniel had his best training week – really good, a part of everything and a fantastic game.”
Sturridge is expected to start the game, and it could also be his final appearance for Liverpool.
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