Arne Slot has confirmed that Diogo Jota is likely to be in his squad for Liverpool vs. Fulham on Saturday, while Federico Chiesa is also expected to be back.
Jota and Chiesa have both been sidelined for months, which has impacted Slot’s selection process when it comes to his attacking line.
With only four senior forwards fit, the head coach has rotated Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez while Mohamed Salah has featured in every game.
But this week has seen both Jota and Chiesa rejoin full training as Liverpool’s medical staff oversee their recovery, and speaking in his pre-match press conference, Slot revealed they could both return against Fulham.
“I think they are [available]. We have one training session to go,” he told reporters.
“Federico missed quite a lot, for a long time, was ill last week, so we have to wait and see how he’s exactly doing.
“Maybe Diogo is in the squad – and maybe Federico as well, but that depends on the numbers we have and how he recovered from his illness.”
While Jota is expected to come straight back into contention, initially as an option off the bench, Slot will be more mindful over Chiesa’s introduction.
The Italian played an hour in the U21s’ 4-3 loss to Nordsjaelland at the beginning of the month but missed the trip to Girona in the Champions League due to illness.
That was undoubtedly a setback, but his long spell out with injury – married to his lack of pre-season with Juventus – means Liverpool will take every precaution necessary.
Addressing his road to recovery, Slot revealed the difficulty in bringing Chiesa back into such an intense schedule, but suggested he could make his comeback against Southampton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
“What makes it difficult is that we play so many games,” he admitted.
“What he needs is playing time, and the problem is if you haven’t played for five or six months it’s sometimes difficult for a manager to give him his first minutes, because you don’t know exactly what you can expect.
“Yes, I see him on the training ground, but ideally you see him in a friendly during the week, or you see him in a U21 game or something like this.
“But that is not the situation we have; we play so many games.
“So maybe the Southampton game might be a good moment for him to get some playing minutes and then we know a bit better what we can expect from him.
“Of course, we see his qualities, we know his qualities, but he needs to get this fitness level.
“If you only have training sessions, that is not the same as playing time. You need to have playing time to reach certain fitness levels.
“But that is, if you are competing for the league and competing in the Champions League, not always easy to find these minutes – unless we are sometimes 4-0 or 5-0 up, but for the whole season I think it was only once.
“Against Bournemouth at home [we were] 3-0 up at half-time, and the rest has been a struggle, a fight until the last second of every game.”
