Liverpool’s head coach, Arne Slot, has provided an encouraging injury update for Joe Gomez, Diogo Jota, and Darwin Nunez ahead of the weekend trip to Bournemouth.
On Saturday afternoon, the Reds will play probably their most crucial game of the season, travelling to a Cherries side that is currently flying in the Premier League.
The south coast team has won 4-1 and 5-0 away to Newcastle United and at home to Nottingham Forest in their last two games, so a victory for Liverpool would be big, given how difficult a 90-minute match may be.
Gomez, Jota and Nunez have all been injury doubts leading up to the match, and while none may feature this weekend, Slot confirmed on Friday that they are all back in training.
“All three of them are in training today,” Slot said.
“So then the question is are they already far enough to join us towards Bournemouth. That’s something we have to wait and see today.
“Because we probably have already have more than 20 players available – we always have more than 20 available, but the ones that are mostly there. So we have to make the smartest decision for them, but also for winning the game tomorrow.”
Best luck with injuries in years.
To be in the position where Slot can ease these three players back in is such a luxury, especially in relation to Liverpool’s injury troubles in recent years.
Jurgen Klopp’s squad was destroyed at times, most notably last season, when a drastically different team defeated Chelsea in the EFL Cup final.
Liverpool now has practically a clean bill of health, which is greatly benefiting the team’s consistency and rhythm.
As a result, there is no need to rush Gomez, Jota, and Nunez back against Bournemouth, even though having them on the replacements’ bench would undoubtedly be beneficial.
Instead, Slot may believe that the EFL Cup semi-final second leg against Tottenham at Anfield next Thursday is a better opportunity to bring them back into the fold.