Liverpool had two first-team players miss training ahead of their match with Villarreal tonight. The Reds should just about cope.
This comes from the Liverpool Echo. They name two Liverpool players that missed training on Tuesday as Roberto Firmino and Kostas Tsimikas. The Reds host Villarreal tonight, of course.
Firmino’s absence isn’t a shock. He’s been out for the last couple of games and Jurgen Klopp confirmed to Liverpoolfc.com that the Brazilain remained injured.
“I don’t think [he is ready] yet,” said Klopp. “He is running outside and that’s good, obviously, but I am not sure.
“Maybe somebody will surprise me afterward and tell me, ‘Yes, Bobby is in.’ [I will have] open arms, but I don’t think so.”
Tsimikas, however, is a surprise. Klopp didn’t mention any injury but per the Echo, he wasn’t in training. That certainly suggests he’s unavailable for the match tonight.
Liverpool players miss training ahead of Villarreal
Liverpool has cover for both players, of course. Tsimikas was always highly unlikely to start this one anyway, with Andy Robertson almost guaranteed to start at left-back regardless of the Greek’s fitness.
Firmino could have started this one, though. In fact, there’s a good chance Klopp would have opted for the Reds’ no.9 to help deal with fixture congestion. As it is, we’ll just have to hope Firmino is ready for the weekend.
But as it is, Liverpool boasts enough star forwards to cover. They’ll call on three Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, Diogo Jota, and Luis Diaz to see them through this one. That should be plenty of firepowers to grab a first-leg lead.
The real concern now is whether they’ll return quickly. Tsimikas might not have an issue at all, of course – Klopp didn’t mention one – but Liverpool’s great strength is their availability right now. They’re fighting on three fronts and that takes a deep squad.
The last thing they need is for injuries to start popping up and hurting their rotation. We’ll cross our fingers that both players are back for the weekend, then.
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