Simon Mignolet and Dejan Lovren have recovered from injury and are available for Liverpool’s home clash with Leicester City on Boxing Day after missing last Sunday’s 3-0 defeat by Watford.
But Jurgen Klopp will again be without James Milner for the visit of Premier League leaders, along with Martin Skrtel, who tore his hamstring in the defeat at Vicarage Road.
Skrtel said this week that he expects to be ruled out for six weeks, while Milner missed the Watford match with a calf injury and is still receiving treatment.
Klopp said he won’t allow injuries to be an excuse as he seeks to turn around Liverpool’s dip in form.
“Martin is now missing and that is not perfect but it is not our place to complain about this. It’s a hamstring with a little bit of the tendon involved, so he needs time,” Klopp said.
“We don’t know how long because Martin is a tough guy and usually he recovers quickly, but we can’t put pressure on this so we have to wait. It’s a few weeks, for sure — it’s really bad for us.
“Dejan Lovren is back in training. He’s trained now for two days in a row completely normally with the team. He is available for Saturday.
“Simon is back and trained normally today and will train normally tomorrow.
“[Milner has] no chance. Millie has a calf injury and nobody knows where it came from, it was not in a game. Now we have to wait. One or two weeks, I don’t know exactly. That is not too good for us, either.”
The manager added that Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Rossiter, too, needed time for their respective hamstring problems to heal.
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