Team news: Liverpool star to miss at least 4 weeks, trio face late tests + Ox update

Liverpool will be looking to return to the top of the table with a positive result when they take on Bournemouth at Anfield on Saturday afternoon. 

Ahead of the game, Jurgen Klopp has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference this afternoon and he’s provided a full team news and injury update including the latest on the fitness of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Georginio Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, Joe Gomez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Dejan Lovren.

Let’s start with the update on Gomez and Klopp has confirmed it will be another four to six weeks before the defender is ready to play again after undergoing surgery on his troublesome fractured leg.

Gomez suffered the injury against Burnley back in December and was forced to have an operation earlier this week to help the healing process after his recovery took longer than expected. He’s now not due back until mid-to-late March which is a big blow to Liverpool.

However, there is better news on Alexander-Arnold as the youngster returned to full training on Thursday after recovering from a knee injury that’s kept him out for the past month. The full-back will be assessed to see if he’ll be able to feature against Bournemouth tomorrow afternoon.

Wijnaldum missed the draw at West Ham due to a minor knee injury while Henderson also sat out the trip to the London Stadium with a muscle issue but the midfield duo took part in full training at Melwood yesterday. Klopp says Wijnaldum and Henderson will face late tests to see if they can return to the squad this weekend.

Lovren is certain to miss out tomorrow as the centre-back remains on the sidelines as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury but Klopp hopes he’ll be available to face Bayern Munich later this month.

The Liverpool boss also gave the latest on Oxlade-Chamberlain and confirmed the midfielder could be back in time to play in the Champions League quarter-finals if the club gets past Bayern Munich in the last-16 stage.

Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com:

“Joe’s surgery worked pretty well. Timeframe is always pretty difficult, but [it’s] four to six weeks in terms of return to play.

“Trent trained yesterday for the first time and didn’t mention any issues or any problems. After four weeks for a first session, we need to see what we do there.

“Jordan trained yesterday as well for the first time; it was not that long a break but it was a muscle issue. We need to have another look today.

“Gini trained yesterday completely normal, but I don’t know in the moment. We have to see.

“Dejan is not available. No [timeframe], we work on the Bayern game, but we don’t know exactly.”

Klopp on Oxlade-Chamberlain: "If we got to the semis of the CL again he should be available, quarter-finals maybe. We put him in the CL squad as we think there's the chance for him to play."

— James Pearce (@JamesPearceEcho) February 8, 2019

Liverpool will be hoping that Alexander-Arnold is able to return this weekend as they’ve certainly missed him at right-back in recent weeks while Henderson and Wijnaldum were also sorely missed against West Ham last time out.

The Reds head in to the weekend action sitting second on goal difference with a game in hand so they’ll be desperate to climb back above Man City with a win ahead of their clash with Chelsea on Sunday.