Neither Liverpool nor Leicester City have too many injury worries going into the Anfield clash on Saturday, with Emre Can remaining the sole notable absentee from the Reds’ first home game of the new Premier League campaign.
After nearly a gap of four months, Liverpool return to their fabled fortress at Anfield to play their first competitive home game of the season as they welcome Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City. Both teams will be keen on coming away with three points after enduring mixed fortunes in the early stages of the campaign. Four points from their opening 3 games see the Reds and the Foxes sitting in mid-table, with the latter edging the former by two places only on goal-difference.
Emre Can is set to miss out for Liverpool after he failed to recover from the foot injury he suffered against Burton Albion in their League Cup encounter. Meanwhile, Estonian defender Ragnar Klavan is ruled out due to a knee injury he suffered during the international break, although it is unlikely his absence will cause too much of a stir with the presence of a fully-fit Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren. The lack of fitness of Mamadou Sakho, who only returned to first-team training prior to the international break, means Lucas Leiva will step in as a more than capable back-up to the two first choice centre-backs.
Liverpool’s teenage star Sheyi Ojo is yet to recover from his back-injury. It may take at least a couple more weeks for the youngster to get back into first-team action. There is some positive news as well on the injury front for the Reds as Sadio Mane has been declared fit by Klopp and is expected to start against the Foxes on Saturday.
There were concerns surrounding the Senegalese forward after he was hauled off during a game with his national side but the 24-year-old allayed all fears by returning to full training at Melwood following the international break. “Mane, I don’t know how it works but it was absolutely nothing. He’s trained completely normal,” Klopp confirmed.
Simon Mignolet is expected to keep his place in goal on Saturday despite the news of Loris Karius’ recovery from his hand injury. The German shot-stopper, though, needs to get more training sessions under his belt before he gets back to competitive action. Despite the absence of Can in particular, Klopp still finds himself in a strong position to prepare his side to kick-start their home campaign with a victory over Leicester City.