Arne Slott spoke to the media at a press conference on Friday. (Image: undefined)
Manager Arne Slott has confirmed that Alexander Isak is in line to return for Liverpool’s crucial Premier League clash against Chelsea on Saturday. Isak, 26, has had a difficult injury-plagued debut season with the Reds, missing last Sunday’s defeat to Manchester United after picking up a groin problem in training.
However, the Sweden international could be available when Slot’s side take on the Blues at Anfield this weekend, with Slot revealing in his pre-match press conference that he had trained with the team on Thursday.
“Alex trained with us for the first time yesterday,” Slott said Friday afternoon. “Everything is good. He’s done some of it. Hopefully he’ll do some or all of it today and we’ll see how much we use him.”
As well as providing an update on Isak, Slott also spoke about Alisson, Giorgi Mamadashvili, Mohamed Salah, Ibrahima Konate and Florian Wirths ahead of the match against Chelsea.
Alisson missed the last game with a knee injury and Mamadashvili came on as a substitute for the Brazilian, but was stretchered off in the win over Everton with his own knee problem.
Salah suffered a hamstring problem in last month’s game against Crystal Palace, Konate missed training due to personal reasons and Wirtz has been unwell this week.
“Alison not yet, but Giorgi for the first time today,” added the Dutchman. He has frequently appeared irritated this season when asked about Liverpool’s injury concerns.
“Mo is very close, as is Ali. Ibou had personal reasons for not training on Wednesday, but he trained yesterday and today. Florian was a little unwell, but he trained yesterday as well.”
Mohamed Salah has not yet returned to full training (Image: Getty)
Liverpool welcome Chelsea as they aim to virtually guarantee qualification for next season’s Champions League. If Slott’s side win against the Blues, they will move nine points behind sixth-placed Bournemouth with three games remaining.
Given the Reds’ vastly superior goal difference, qualification for Europe’s top club tournament is virtually guaranteed.
Speaking about the Reds’ goals ahead of their fixtures against Chelsea, Aston Villa and Brentford before the end of the season, Slott continued: “Good performances usually lead to results.
“The first and main goal is to qualify for the Champions League and we have shown this season that good performances are needed to get results.
“The opposite happened, where we had a good performance and a bad result. We didn’t often have a bad performance and a good result. Usually you need a good performance to win a match.”
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