Liverpool Team News: Klopp Confirms Double Injury Boost + Sturridge/Milner Updates

Liverpool will look to kick start the festive period on a positive note when they take on Leicester City at Anfield on Boxing Day.

Ahead of the game, Jurgen Klopp has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference this afternoon and he’s given Liverpoolfc.com a team news and injury update.

The German coach was pleased to confirm a double injury boost with the news that Dejan Lovren and Simon Mignolet are back in contention after returning to full training this week.

Lovren missed last weeks 3-0 defeat at Watford after suffering a knee injury the previous week against West Brom while Mignolet also sat out the loss at Vicarage Road with a minor hamstring complaint. However, the duo are now back in training and in contention to face Leicester at Anfield on Saturday afternoon.

Lovren’s return is a timely one as Klopp also confirmed that Martin Skrtel is facing a spell on the sidelines after picking up a serious hamstring injury against Watford last weekend and he’s now set to miss the entire Christmas and New Year period.

The Slovakian international joins James Milner on the sidelines after the midfielder suffered a mysterious calf injury and he’s expected to be out for at least another week meaning he’ll be a major doubt to face Sunderland and West Ham.

Klopp also gave an update on the fitness of Daniel Sturridge and revealed that the striker is continuing to undergo an intensive training programme to try and get him back to peak fitness following yet another injury setback.

The final update from the Reds boss concerned midfielder Jordan Rossiter and Klopp confirmed that the youngster is set for another spell on the treatment table after suffering a hamstring injury during the recent Europa League win at FC Sion.

Klopp told the clubs website:

“Martin Skrtel is not too good. It’s a hamstring with a little bit of the tendon involved, so he needs time.

“We don’t know how long because Martin is a tough guy and usually he recovers quickly, but we can’t put pressure on this so we have to wait. It’s a few weeks, for sure – it’s really bad for us.

“Dejan Lovren is back in training. He’s trained now for two days in a row completely normally with the team. He is available for Saturday.

“Simon is back and trained normally today and will train normally tomorrow.

“[Milner has] no chance. Millie has a calf injury and nobody knows where it came from, it was not in a game. Now we have to wait. One or two weeks, I don’t know exactly. That is not too good for us, either.”

“Daniel [Sturridge] is still doing his little pre-season, in a good way,”

“It is intensive training with him at this time. We will do this for I don’t know how many days – seven, eight, nine or 10 days training like this and then we will see what happens then.”

“It is really bad for Jordan and for us too. It happened in Sion. It is similar injury to the one before – it’s a hamstring.

“He felt it after five minutes in the game. It is disappointing for him and that needs time too, really long time.”

With Skrtel now facing a spell on the sidelines it comes as a welcome relief that Lovren is available and can simply step-in alongside Mamadou Sakho against Leicester this weekend.

Mignolet’s return is also a boost as the Belgian international is expected to reclaim the No.1 jersey after Adam Bogdan’s error led to the crucial opening goal against Watford last time out.