Matchday Live: Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool Live
Liverpool could welcome Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai back from injury against Nottingham Forest, but Saturday’s visit to the City Ground comes too soon for Mohamed Salah.
Nunez has not featured since scoring in the 4-1 win at Brentford on February 17, while Szoboszlai’s last appearance came on January 31, when he netted as Chelsea were beaten 4-1 at Anfield.
However, both returned to full training on Thursday and may be included in the Reds’ squad for the meeting with Forest.
Salah, though, will not be involved against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, while Jürgen Klopp was unsure on the availability of Wataru Endo and Andy Robertson when he held his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.
Endo sustained a knock in the Carabao Cup final that caused him to miss Wednesday night’s victory over Southampton, and Robertson has been ill this week.
The manager said: “Darwin and Dom trained yesterday with the team. So, they looked good, but we have to wait [to see] how they react. Wataru and Robbo didn’t, but there is the plan that they join in today, that’s the idea but we have to see if that really works out.
“Ibou [Ibrahima Konate], nothing, it [him not starting against Southampton] was just time-sharing. Lucho [Luis Diaz] is fine, Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] is fine. They all look fine.
“The little problem, we couldn’t know about, is that Macca was ill for one-and-a-half days I would say and Robbo had the same thing, so hopefully that didn’t spread now. So far I didn’t hear anything [but] I didn’t ask because I don’t want to know probably! So, we will see.
“I don’t think Mo is too far off, but he will not feature tomorrow and from there we have to go. It’s like touch and go… but I think next week at any point it is possible. He is on the way back, definitely, but not there yet.”
Thiago Alcantara, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Stefan Bajcetic, Alisson Becker, Ben Doak, Ryan Gravenberch, Curtis Jones, Diogo Jota and Joel Matip remain sidelined.
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Speaking after his side’s 1-0 Emirates FA Cup defeat by Manchester United on Wednesday night, Forest boss Nuno explained he will have some late calls to make on his squad.
Asked if any injured players will recover in time for the Reds’ visit, he said: “Not sure. Let’s see. Some players are in the final part of their recovery. Let’s see.
“Ibrahim [Sangare] is closer, Chris Wood is also closer. Ola [Aina] and Nuno [Tavares], more problems. [Willy] Boly is also in the final days of his recovery.”
On meeting Liverpool, he added: “We’re going to face a tough opponent. Jürgen [is a] fantastic manager, it will be good to see him. But we have to focus on the team and they have good players.
“We need to be clinical on the chances we have. And control their game, especially the offensive movements that they have. They are really dangerous; speed, quality.
“It will require a lot of effort from us, but we have to keep this idea of playing and going forward, no matter which opponent we have, because this is what our team needs.
“It needs our players to have freedom because they have talent. Let’s reinforce the things that we do well. And defensively, we have to be aware of the quality of Liverpool’s players.”
Last match
Liverpool 3-0 Southampton (February 28): Kelleher, Bradley, Van Dijk, Quansah, Tsimikas, Gomez, McConnell, Clark, Koumas, Elliott, Gakpo.
Nottm Forest 0-1 Manchester United (February 28): Turner, Williams, Felipe, Murillo, Toffolo, Yates, Danilo, Origi, Gibbs-White, Elanga, Awoniyi.
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