Liverpool Team News: Klopp Confirms Huge Injury Blow But Duo Set To Return

Liverpool will be looking to continue their push for the top four when they take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon.

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

Unfortunately the Reds boss revealed that Lucas Leiva’s thigh injury is far more serious than first thought and the Brazilian international is now expected to miss the next five to six weeks.

Leiva suffered the injury while taking a penalty during Liverpool’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Manchester City in the final of the Capital One Cup last weekend and Klopp had initially hopes it wasn’t too serious, but Leiva is now set for an extended spell on the sidelines.

However, there was better news regarding the fitness of Daniel Sturridge with the striker training normally on Thursday after being rested for Wednesday night’s win over Manchester City.

Sturridge was left out of the squad entirely at Anfield in midweek after complaining of cramps having played 120 minutes in the cup final but the striker is now set to return to action this weekend.

Klopp also confirmed that Mamadou Sakho could be back in contention after missing the midweek City game following a nasty clash of heads with team mate Emre Can at Wembley last Sunday.

Klopp is quoted as saying by Liverpoolfc.com:

“Lucas is really unfortunate. It’s a little bit more serious,”

“I’ve never heard about an injury you get like this, from a penalty, but it was only because he was a little bit injured before.

“He didn’t feel too much but after the shot it was done. [It’s a] quad – I don’t know exactly but five or six weeks [out], not too good.”

“Mama did a little bit today for the first time, but we didn’t really do a lot because it was the second day after a game.

“The only session we have is tomorrow and we have to see how he is then, but today was the first day he did a little bit more.

“[And] Daniel Sturridge trained completely normally yesterday.”

It’s a big blow for Liverpool to lose Leiva for up to six weeks but with Emre Can, Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Joe Allen all fit, Klopp still has plenty of midfield options at his disposal.

I expect Sturridge to return to the starting eleven at Palace but we’ll have to wait and see whether Sakho comes straight back in as Klopp suddenly has a wealth of options at the back with Martin Skrtel also back in contention along with Kolo Toure and Dejan Lovren.