Pre-Spurs Melwood fitness update: Firmino, Origi and Benteke
Liverpool will check on the fitness of Roberto Firmino ahead of Saturday’s tea-time clash with Tottenham Hotspur to determine whether he is ready to return to action.
The Brazil forward sat out the Reds’ last match before the international break at Southampton due to a hamstring strain.
Jürgen Klopp confirmed at his pre-Spurs press conference Firmino is close to being available again; however, the encounter with Mauricio Pochettino’s side may come too soon.
Elsewhere, Liverpool will have Divock Origi in contention to face Spurs, but Christian Benteke is out after both players sustained knocks while on duty with Belgium.
Klopp said: “We had smaller or bigger problems with the Belgian national players. Divock Origi could not play the games for Belgium because of a little muscle issue.
“He has been back in complete training since yesterday, so he is available.
“It’s completely different with Christian Benteke. In this moment he is not available and we have to wait for further assessments to know exactly how long it will be. But for this game for sure, he has no chance.
“Roberto Firmino will be close. We have to make a decision, maybe tomorrow - we will see. It’s another 24 hours but we cannot bring pressure in this situation and we have to wait to see how he feels and other things.
“Most of the players came back [from internationals] healthy, that’s cool.”