Jurgen Klopp confident of Virgil van Dijk return but Mo Salah to be assessed

While Virgil van Dijk should be fit to face Crystal Palace, Jurgen Klopp has confirmed Mohamed Salah is still suffering with an ankle issue.

Published : Nov 22, 2019 19:50 IST

Mohamed Salah is to be assessed, but Virgil van Dijk should be fit to face Crystal Palace.
Mohamed Salah is to be assessed, but Virgil van Dijk should be fit to face Crystal Palace.
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Mohamed Salah is to be assessed, but Virgil van Dijk should be fit to face Crystal Palace.

Virgil van Djik should be available to feature for Liverpool against Crystal Palace on Saturday, though Jurgen Klopp has acknowledged Mohamed Salah is still struggling with an ongoing ankle problem.

Van Dijk withdrew from the Netherlands squad in midweek, citing "personal reasons", while Salah was not included in Egypt's squad at all.

However, Van Dijk is set to be at Klopp's disposal at Selhurst Park, as Liverpool aims to extend its lead at the top of the Premier League.

"In the moment, yes, Virgil is 100 per cent available," Klopp told a news conference.

"But it's the time of the year when players get out of the squad overnight, unfortunately, with some other things – getting sick or ill or whatever.

"From the others, I cannot say 100 per cent. Today is a very important session to judge that, especially with the players who came back late.

"Fabinho and Bobby [Roberto Firmino] and Alisson played on Tuesday, Gini Wijnaldum played on Tuesday, so we have these players where we really need to have a look at how they react and what makes sense for them or not.

"It's always how it is with the first game after the international [break], we have to wait until the last second pretty much to make the decision. Nobody came back with a serious injury or something like that but we still have to look how they are."

Salah, meanwhile, has been dealing with an ankle problem initially sustained in Liverpool's 2-1 win over Leicester City in October.

The former Roma forward missed the Reds' draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford, and seemed to aggravate the issue in a tussle with Manchester City's Fernandinho in Liverpool's win over Pep Guardiola's side at Anfield prior to the international break.

Klopp conceded Salah is still having some trouble with the injury, though said he had trained ahead of Liverpool's trip to south London, with a further assessment to be made on Friday.

"[Thursday] he trained. He trained the whole time since he was here, but only the things we wanted him to do," Klopp said.

"Today is another important session to see how it looks and we can make the decision. It's not that it got worse but it's still kind of there, that's the problem. We have to be sensible with things like this.

"But I didn't make the decision. If I would have made a decision, I probably wouldn't have told you now, but I have to see the session today."

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