Liverpool Team News: Rodgers Offers Latest On Sakho, Enrique, Johnson + More

Liverpool take on West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns on Sunday afternoon looking to cement their place in the top four.

Ahead of the game boss Brendan Rodgers has been speaking to the media today and gave Liverpoolfc.com a team news and injury update with the latest on Glen Johnson, Jose Enrique, Joe Allen, Mamadou Sakho and Daniel Agger’s fitness.

First up and there was some good news on midfielder Allen, with Rodgers confirming the Welshman is back in contention after recovering from an abductor problem that he originally picked up against Chelsea a month ago.

He made a brief return against Aston Villa but missed the next two games after aggravating the injury, but is now back in full training and available this weekend.

Right-back Johnson is still out with a number of niggling injury problems and Rodgers confirmed he hasn’t put a timescale on the right-back’s return. His continued absence is likely to see Jon Flanagan continue at the back after an impressive display against Everton last time out.

The Reds boss also gave an update on the situation regarding Enrique and admitted that he hoped the Spaniard would be closer to a return by now after almost three months on the sidelines following knee surgery, while he also confirmed that defenders Sakho and Agger remain out.

Rodgers told the clubs website:

“Joe Allen will be back, which is great news.

“He’s looked very good in training and he’s a very important player back in for us.”

On Glen Johnson, who last featured for the Reds during the draw against Villa at Anfield, Rodgers said:

“Glen is working really well.

“There’s no timeline on that yet, but he’s certainly working very hard with the medical team, so that’s coming along well.”

“Jose Enrique, we’ll just need to analyse, It was 10 weeks yesterday since the operation and we’d hoped he’d be a little bit further on in his recovery. So we just need to look at a strategy in terms of getting him back.

“Apart from that, the others are still out; Mamadou Sakho and Daniel Agger. As you saw in the last game, Jon Flanagan has come back from being out for a while, so we’re slowly getting there.”

Liverpool head into the weekend action sitting three points clear in fourth place following their comprehensive 4-0 win over Merseyside rivals Everton in midweek.

A win over the Baggies on Sunday would see them close the gap on third-placed Chelsea to just one point ahead of the Blues clash with Manchester City on Monday, so Rodgers will be desperate to put the pressure on their rivals.

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