Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed Mohamed Salah is a doubt to face Crystal Palace as he continues to struggle with an ongoing ankle problem.
Salah was left out of Egypt’s squad for their recent Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Kenya and Comoros in order to continue treatment on the injury which he aggravated against Manchester City earlier this month.
The 27-year-old has been able to train with Liverpool but Klopp is unsure if the forward will have recovered in time for Saturday’s trip to Selhurst Park.
Klopp said: “He has trained the whole time he has been here but only the things we wanted him to do.
“Today is another important session for us to see how it looks and we can make a decision. It’s not that it got worse, it is still there, and that’s the problem. “We have to be sensible. I haven’t made a decision. I will have to see the session later.”
Virgil van Dijk was also a doubt for the match after withdrawing from the Netherlands squad for their final European Qualifier against Estonia due to “personal reasons”.
However, Klopp has confirmed the defender will be available to face Palace, although he is unsure over a number of his other players including Andrew Robertson (ankle) and Joel Matip (knee).
“Virgil van Dijk is 100 percent available. It’s that time of the year when players can pull off the squad overnight unfortunately with some other things with feeling sick,” said Klopp.
“On the others, I cannot say 100 percent. Today’s a very important session, especially for the players that came back late. Fabinho, Roberto Firmino, and Alisson played on Tuesday, so did [Georginio] Wijnaldum.
“We need to have a look at how they react and what makes sense for them. It is always like this the first game after the international break, we have to wait pretty much until the last second before making decisions.
“Nobody came back with a serious injury.”
Xherdan Shaqiri has returned to training after recovering from a calf problem and is now working his way back to full match fitness.
The Switzerland international has played just 29 minutes of first-team football this season but Klopp insists he has a future at Anfield.
“When I am with him, he is completely happy and fine here,” said Klopp. “Speculations are speculations, we can’t change them.
“Of course he has a future here. We all speak about the future until the season ends, and then maybe a player comes to me or not. But at the moment nobody thinks about that.
“At the moment we are completely in this season and this season he is a very, very important player for us.”
Source: Sky Sports
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