Salah returns as Klopp refutes rushing Alexander-Arnold back

Jurgen Klopp has stepped up to the plate and kicked off his press conference with some clarification regarding the recurrance of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s knee injury. He rubbishes speculation that the right-back had to be taken off at half-time during his side’s match against Burnley because he had been “forced back” from a previous injury to the same knee.

“A thing we have to clairfy a bit,” he says. “I was not really aware of it, but I got the news that there was a discussion we might have ‘forced’ Trent back because of two setbacks. Nobody wants that and nobody is doing that. Different cases, different scenarios and as long as I am here we will not force anybody back and never do.

“But we work in a high-performance area. We always try to catch the earliest moment. Unfortunately when we catch that early moment nobody speaks about that. The last decision is always with the player, but if you always listen to the player they would play after two weeks and it’s a real problem.

“The boys were in the moment when they played. They were fit. But the situation told us differently because it happened again. Very unlucky and unfortunate, but it can happen. We have to bring the boys back as soon possible but never before they are ready.”

Klopp has also confirmed that Mo Salah is ready to return having suffered a muscle injury while on international duty with Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations. “Mo is back in full training, that brings him automatically into contention, of course,” said Klopp. Salah hasn’t featured for Liverpool since the first week of January.

In other Liverpool team news, goalkeeper Alisson has recovered from illness and is available for selection, while Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley are also available after missing the win over Burnley for various reasons.