Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Mohamed Salah is “in contention” to play in Liverpool’s Premier League match against Brentford, and four other players are back.
Salah hasn’t played for Liverpool since New Year’s Day, but Klopp has now said he is “in contention” to return to first team action.
Due to participation in the Africa Cup of Nations and his subsequent hamstring injury, Salah’s start to 2024 has been a frustrating one.
He will hope to turn that around in the next week, though, as he gets back to full match sharpness ahead of the League Cup final on February 25.
Klopp updated us on Friday, saying: “Mo’s back in full training. That brings him automatically back in contention of course.”
Having only returned to training on Tuesday, whether he will start against Brentford is up for debate. However, the Egyptian does seem to possess remarkable powers of recovery.
That recovery does appear to be on track as prior last weekend’s match vs. Burnley, Klopp had revealed there were hopes Salah would be involved in “parts of training” prior to the trip to Brentford.
He has missed Liverpool’s last eight matches but the coaching staff will be wary of aggravating any problems by reintroducing him too early.
While Klopp will no doubt be envious of Chelsea having a full week to prepare for the final, Liverpool’s midweek fixture against Luton (February 21) could act as a useful game for Salah to play his first full match for over a month.
In his absence, Liverpool have coped relatively well, winning six of eight matches and scoring 22 goals in the process.
As well as Salah, Klopp also confirmed Conor Bradley, Joe Gomez and Alisson are all able to play again, while Ibrahima Konate is available also after suspension.
There was, though, less positive news with the boss confirming both Dominik Szoboszlai and Trent Alexander-Arnold are both likely to miss the rest of the month, including the League Cup final vs. Chelsea.
Salah’s physicality is something the Reds missed against Arsenal, though, and his ability to create a chance from nothing could be crucial as Liverpool aim to break down Brentford and Luton in the coming days.
For the match against Brentford, on Saturday lunchtime, we are most likely to see Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez start as Liverpool’s front three.
