March 04, (THEWILL) – Thiago Alcantara, who missed the Carabao Cup final due to a hamstring injury, will not be ready to return this weekend, according to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
The Spaniard was pencilled in the starting XI for the match against Chelsea, but he suffered an injury during the warm-up and was clearly upset on the bench after being substituted by Naby Keita.
The extent of Thiago’s injury is unknown, but Klopp has announced that he will miss Saturday’s match against West Ham United, along with Joel Matip, who is now ill.
Klopp made this known at a press conference on Friday, saying: “Strength in depth is really important, no doubt about that, especially when you have to play different competitions. But we have players who are not available.
“I’m pretty sure that nobody will tell me differently because yesterday he didn’t train, Thiago will not be available for tomorrow. Joel Matip is ill – no COVID, nowadays you can be ill in different ways as well – so he will not be available.
“So all of a sudden, we played a tough game midweek, all these kinds of things, so we still wait a little bit for who is how in which moment.”
Klopp also announced that Naby Keita and Curtis Jones will both undergo late fitness tests before the game, putting Liverpool’s midfield in jeopardy.
He went on: “Curtis is not bad but if it is good enough to go again tomorrow, I don’t know.
“So from eight midfielders – Naby we don’t know – to four midfielders in a week, that can happen easily. So it’s not nothing as well that we, like, enjoy, ‘Oh my God, we have the full choice.’ You have the full choice one day and then the other days you don’t have it.
“So we have to make sure that we stay as fit as possible because we have a lot of games to play in these upcoming months.”
“Naby was not in the squad on Wednesday. Bobby [Firmino] is looking good but not good enough for the weekend. I think the plan is that he trains on Sunday, first time. That sounds then doable for Tuesday,” Klopp added.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
