Liverpool team news update: Mo Salah set to return vs Leicester

Liverpool have been handed a triple boost with Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Joe Gomez all set to return against Leicester City.

Salah suffered heartbreak at the African Cup of Nations on Sunday night after losing out on penalties to Senegal in the final. The Egyptian international headed straight back to Merseyside after the game and arrived at Liverpool’s training ground this morning.

The 29-year-old is expected to train with the rest of the first team squad today. Salah will then be assessed by the clubs medical team but Jurgen Klopp has confirmed the attacker should be in contention to face Leicester.

The German coach says they won’t rush Salah back if he’s not ready. However, the Foxes head to Anfield on Thursday night so Salah has plenty of time to recover and prepare for the Premier League clash.

Salah back

Obviously it’s a huge boost for Liverpool to have Salah back, but Sadio Mane won’t be involved against Leicester as he’s not due to fly back to England until Wednesday night following Senegal’s triumph at the AFCON.

Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com:

“Mo is now back, I spoke already to him. He is very disappointed of course, but looking forward to all the things coming up here now. I spoke to him and pretty much the first thing Mo told me was: ‘I’m ready.’ Haha!

“He is an experienced player, he is a physical monster, to be honest, so we have to see. He will obviously have a little recovery session today and we will see how he feels tomorrow and from there we go.

“The proper plan we don’t have, play him as often and as long as possible is probably the plan, but we will not rush it. But if he is fine we will not leave him out for the wrong reasons as well, so let’s see.”

“Yes, yes [Salah could feature against Leicester]. Sadio no chance as he’s not even here, but Mo yes. Sadio flies out if it’s possible on Wednesday night, so will arrive here on Thursday but he is, of course, then not involved in the Leicester game.”

Gomez back in training

Klopp also confirmed that Gomez and Oxlade-Chamberlain are back in first team training. The duo missed Liverpool’s FA Cup win over Cardiff City at the weekend after testing positive for covid-19 last week.

However, the pair have now completed their isolation periods and are back in training so should be in contention to face Leicester on Thursday night. The Liverpool boss also reported no fresh injury concerns following the Cardiff game.

Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com:

“Oxlade and Joe are back in training, which is good – they had COVID last week.

“In the next few days and weeks, we here at Liverpool will have probably all had it and that’s then at least something good in that. But no, no new injuries or anything like that.”

Thiago Alcantara and Harvey Elliott returned from injury with substitute appearances during the win over Cardiff so they’re pushing for starts against Leicester on Thursday night.

Divock Origi is also back in training after recovering from a knee injury so Klopp has virtually a fully-fit squad to choose from, which will be a big boost for Liverpool heading into a hectic period.