Liverpool face Arsenal for the FA Community Shield on Saturday and there is good news on the injury front for boss Jurgen Klopp with Virgil van Dijk available for selection.
The Merseyside giants enjoyed a successful campaign last year as they ended their wait for a league title, and with the short turnaround between seasons, they’ll be back at it this weekend.
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They’ll face FA Cup winners Arsenal in the showpiece season curtain-raiser, and there is positive news on the injury front for the Reds as they look to pick up from where they left off.
As noted by the club’s official site, Van Dijk will be available for selection after doubts were raised following an injury he suffered during the pre-season game against Salzburg.
The Dutchman suffered a cut to his face during the encounter, but it doesn’t sound as though it will be enough to rule him out of action this weekend.
Further, the report adds that Trent Alexander-Arnold could be in contention while there were positives updates on Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Joel Matip, Xherdan Shaqiri and Harry Wilson.
“All the boys which were not involved so far or got slight knocks in pre-season will not be available for tomorrow, but [are] getting closer, really closer, closer and closer so hopefully the majority of them can start training completely normal after the Arsenal game, but this game is now a bit too early for them. Maybe one or two [will be] involved in the squad, we have to see.
“That’s it pretty much. Hendo and Joel [Matip] looking really good, on a good way. Ox, early stages but good. Shaq, good. Trent, very close, we have to make a decision about tomorrow. Harry [Wilson] looks good.”
It remains to be seen how many of them are involved as Klopp will equally want to avoid taking any unnecessary risks at this point, but he’ll hope to have as many of them at his disposal as possible to give them a chance to get some playing time and minutes under their belts too.