Before playing Man City, Liverpool plays Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday night. This week at the AXA Training Centre, there were some encouraging indicators.
Despite having a severely injured roster at the beginning of the year, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has managed to keep his team’s hopes of winning the quadruple alive. When the Reds’ youthful players took the pitch in the Carabao Cup final last month, Liverpool was missing eleven men.
After the match, Wembley’s situation deteriorated further with the loss of Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endō, but the Liverpool manager offered no explanations. Luckily for Klopp, Endō was able to play Sunday against Nottingham Forest off the bench alongside Darwin Núñez, who won the game, and Dominik Szoboszlai.
Núñez had not played since sustaining an injury at Brentford, and Szoboszlai had only started once since the beginning of January due to a hamstring strain. However, both are now fully recovered and will provide Klopp with a significant lift ahead of this week’s matches against Manchester City and Sparta Prague.
However, it seems that the Anfield manager is about to receive another double boost. In order to get ready for the journey to the Czech capital, Liverpool’s players arrived to the AXA Training Centre on Tuesday, and the team shared a number of photos on social media.
Among them were Gravenberch and Curtis Jones, another injured midfield player who was substituted at Brentford due to an ankle problem. While both players have been spotted using crutches recently, Gravenberch arrived unassisted and moved around freely. Jones, on the other hand, was walking with Andy Robertson while merely wearing a protective boot.
After being sent off at Wembley, it seems Dutch international Gravenberch is the one who is closest to making a comeback. Moisés Caicedo’s late challenge to the 21-year-old resulted in an injury, but Klopp later stated it was a ligament tear rather than a break.
“It’s a ligament injury, it could have been much worse, but it’s bad enough for him to be ruled out for this game, next game, then we will see,” Klopp said last week prior to the FA Cup victory over Southampton. When he addresses the media on Wednesday night, Klopp will probably provide another update, but there’s a chance he might return this week.
Jones, on the other hand, was playing quite well prior to his own injury. Pep Lijnders, the assistant manager of the Reds, reportedly hinted that he will return “around the international break,” which occurs following the FA Cup matchup with Manchester United. That would suggest that he won’t be put in danger before then, but the pictures do seem to show that Liverpool’s injury situation is getting better.
After his own injury problems, Mohamed Salah is anticipated to return to action against Sparta Prague. Klopp will need to decide whether to give him some minutes before to the matchup with City. However, long-term absentees Joël Matip and Thiago Alcântara, as well as Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Diogo Jota, are still sidelined.
According to Liverpool.com: although Gravenberch and Jones might have remained at the training site to complete their recuperation, Liverpool supporters are greatly encouraged by the sight of both players moving around freely and not using crutches or protection. Since Klopp now has few choices and the Reds are still contenders in three competitions, he will be eager to acquire more depth in the upcoming weeks. Whether Gravenberch will be risked against Manchester City or Sparta Prague is still to be determined.
Wataru Endo’s winning streak is now coming to an end. Or at least for Liverpool. Endo will feature in the Asian Cup alongside his fellow internationals, but it will be disappointing to leave Liverpool after struggling to make the starting XI.
