LFC fitness latest: Coutinho, Lallana and Henderson
Jürgen Klopp has confirmed Liverpool will need to wait and see if Philippe Coutinho is fit enough to face Stoke City on Saturday following a bout of illness.
The forward was withdrawn in the second half of the Reds’ draw with Bournemouth on Wednesday night due to sickness and has not trained at Melwood since as he continues to recover.
And the bug may mean he also misses tomorrow’s trip to the bet365 Stadium, Klopp has revealed.
“Phil is still ill and was not at Melwood yesterday and he will not be here today,” the manager told his pre-match press conference.
“He had a conversation with the doc and he feels much better, but it doesn’t look too good. We will have to see if we [can] bring him in tomorrow.
“Stoke is not too far away so we will give him all the time he needs, but it will be really close.”
Elsewhere, in addition to Sadio Mane, Liverpool will also be without Adam Lallana and Jordan Henderson for the clash with the Potters as they continue their rehabilitation programmes from hip and foot injuries respectively.
Daniel Sturridge, however, is continuing to make good progress having resumed full training earlier this week.
Klopp continued: “Adam Lallana is better, much better, but is of course no option for the weekend because he is not in training. He feels good, he is on a good way, but the problem with this is it is kind of a shooting muscle – one you use mainly if you shoot.
“He feels nothing in the moment, but we will need a few more days for sure before we can have him back on the pitch. It is similar to Hendo.
“Hendo is also in a good way but we don’t know exactly when he can be part of training again.
“Daniel is part of training, yesterday and today, and we will see. But no major issues.”