Roberto Firmino will return, but Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk will miss out when Liverpool and Southampton face off at St. Mary’s on Tuesday.
Liverpool will hope to keep pace with Manchester City and take the Premier League title race to the final day of the season when they lock horns with Southampton at St. Mary’s on Tuesday night. And Jurgen Klopp has two fresh injury concerns to deal with ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah will likely miss out against Southampton after sustaining minor injuries in the FA Cup final against Chelsea this past weekend. Andrew Robertson also picked up a knock, but the Scot should be available to take on Southampton. During his pre-match press conference, Klopp spoke about van Dijk and Salah’s fitness.
The Liverpool boss said, “No. Virg definitely not but that was pretty much clear before the [Chelsea] game already that I thought, ‘OK, this is the game now.’ He played really a lot and then Saturday-Tuesday again. It was clear. They are both OK. So, the target would be for both that they can be involved again on the weekend.”
“Properly involved, bench or whatever and a few minutes or start, I don’t know, we will see that, because that would then be perfect for the game [Champions League final]. But if not then we take each day afterwards. But we are very positive, or [have] no doubt about the final. I’m pretty realistic about the Wolves game, but tomorrow rather not.”
With van Dijk unlikely to be fit enough to feature for Liverpool, Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate will form the central defensive partnership. And Kostas Tsimikas should replace Robertson after scoring the match-winning penalty in the FA Cup final. Trent Alexander-Arnold picks himself at right-back, while Alisson Becker is a certainty between the sticks.
Up ahead in midfield, James Milner could come in for Jordan Henderson to reprise the anchor role, with Fabinho still unavailable. But Naby Keita and Thiago Alcantara should retain their spots, leaving Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and former Southampton man Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the bench.
While Salah will likely miss out, Klopp could rest Sadio Mane after some recent excursions. So Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz should form the attacking trifecta for Liverpool, with Firmino reprising his usual False-Nine role.
Predicted Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Konate, Tsimikas; Keita, Milner, Jones; Diaz, Firmino, Jota