Liverpool team news update: Mane & Henderson to return

Liverpool will be looking to close the gap at the top of the table with a win over Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday afternoon.

Ahead of the game, Jurgen Klopp has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference today. The German coach has provided a team news update including positive news on Sadio Mane and Jordan Henderson.

Mane is back in England following his heroics at the African Cup of Nations where he lead Senegal to the trophy last weekend. The 29-year-old is due to take part in full training with the rest of the Liverpool first team squad today.

Klopp says Mane’s condition will be assessed by the clubs medical team but as long as he’s deemed fit, the attacker should be in contention to feature against Burnley this weekend.

Mane back

Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com:

“Will Sadio be available? We have to find out. Sadio will come [in] this morning for training and I assume he will be in full training and then we make a decision after that on how he feels and all that stuff.

“He will probably still be emotionally high-flying, but physically we have to see how intense the last few days were for him.”

Liverpool will also be boosted by the return of Henderson. The Reds skipper missed Thursday’s 2-0 win over Leicester City due to a minor back injury that he picked up against Cardiff City last weekend.

Henderson returns

However, Klopp has confirmed that Henderson will be available on Sunday and is scheduled to return to the starting eleven at Turf Moor.

The Liverpool boss also gave an update on Joe Gomez and Divock Origi after they were left out of the squad on Thursday. Klopp says it was just a selection decision, not related to fitness, and they remain available for selection this weekend.

Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com:

“Hendo, yes, definitely will be back. That’s the plan, was the plan before the game and is still the plan now. If nothing happens, he will play on Sunday.

“The other two were not injured. What I said, it didn’t happen a lot that we have these quality players and then they couldn’t make the squad.

“For Joe, it was the situation that we have to make the decision – do we want to have a second centre-half on the bench or not?

“Div is not too long back in training after his injury, so that was the decision there. But both will train fully.”

Liverpool head into the weekend action sitting nine points adrift of leaders Manchester City with a game in hand. So Klopp will be desperate to close that gap with a win over Burnley on Sunday afternoon.