Liverpool Team News: Rodgers Offers Positive Update On Sakho, Leiva + Enrique

Liverpool are on the South coast this weekend as they take on Southampton at St Marys Stadium on Saturday evening.

Ahead of the game, boss Brendan Rodgers has been speaking at his pre-match press conference today and gave Liverpoolfc.com a team news and injury update including the latest on Jose Enrique, Lucas Leiva and Mamadou Sakho.

The Reds boss was pleased to confirm that defender Sakho has returned to training this week after over two months on the sidelines with a hamstring strain that he picked up back in December. The Frenchman will be assessed before any decision is made over his involvement this weekend.

There was a further boost with the news that Leiva also returned to full training on Thursday. The Brazilian has been out for over six weeks with a knee injury suffered against Aston Villa last month and while Saturday’s game with Southampton will come too soon, it’s a major fillip to have the midfielder back on the training pitch sooner than expected.

The Northern Irishman also provided an update on the fitness of left-back Enrique. The Spaniard has been hampered by a serious knee injury since November and Rodgers confirmed he’s now back continuing his rehabilitation with Liverpool after a successful trip to America, but he’s still not got a comeback date in mind.

Rodgers told the clubs official website:

“We’ve obviously had a couple of players return to training. Young Sakho has trained this week, which has been great. We’ll see if it’s too early for him this weekend.

“And Lucas Leiva rejoined the group today, which was great. Jose Enrique is still out, but apart from that we don’t have any major injuries now.”

“It has just been ongoing [with Enrique]. He has obviously got the issue with his knee; he has come back after a good spell in America.

“He is rehabilitating well here. There’s no timeline on it. I trust the medical team here, they are very good, and they’ll advise me when he’s nearly fit.”

Liverpool will be looking to continue their excellent recent form after they moved six points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham with a 4-3 win over Swansea City last Sunday.

The victory also kept the Merseysiders in touch with the top three and they’ll be hoping to cut the current four point deficit on leaders Chelsea with another win over the Saints this weekend.

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