Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain injury update
Liverpool are continuing to assess the ankle injury Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sustained last weekend, but are hopeful the midfielder's lay-off will be short term.
The No.15 was forced off in the second half of Sunday’s 3-0 Premier League win against Brentford having headed home the Reds’ second goal at the Kop end.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is ruled out of Thursday’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg versus his former club Arsenal but may come back into contention for the subsequent trip to Crystal Palace.
Asked for an update on Oxlade-Chamberlain’s condition, assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders told Liverpoolfc.com on Wednesday morning: “If we speak about Ox we have to discuss his performance as well. He was outstanding.
“He gives so much to the team because of the variety he can play with because he can play on the eight, he can play on the nine, he can play on the wing and he plays all these positions with a lot of quality. He is in a really good moment so it’s a shame that he falls away.
“I spoke yesterday with him and he thinks it’s not that bad. We have to assess it day by day. I would not rule out the weekend but for sure not tomorrow.”
Lijnders also reported no fresh injury concerns within the squad as they build towards a decisive second meeting with the Gunners at Emirates Stadium.
“No, yesterday training looked really good,” said the Dutchman. “We had our second-day recovery; the boys who played [against Brentford] looked fresh after a day off.
“They looked with loads of energy, they were shouting at each other. They have this quality of capacity to make even like a simple rondo, five against two, really competitive.
“We cannot look into their brain but physically they look good and the subs trained, to be honest, really well.”