Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says Trent Alexander-Arnold could face Crystal Palace
The full-back was expected to miss at least two weeks with a knee injury
Friday 18 January 2019 20:28, UK
Jurgen Klopp has revealed Trent Alexander-Arnold could feature against Crystal Palace on Saturday, while he expects Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to return for the Reds before the end of the season.
Alexander-Arnold injured his knee in the warm-up ahead of last weekend's 1-0 win at Brighton but went on to play the full 90 minutes, only for the ligament damage to become apparent after the match.
The England international was expected to miss at least two weeks of football but Klopp says he is in contention to face the Eagles at Anfield, along with midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum.
"Gini and Trent we will decide by day, it's not cool," said Klopp. "The exceptional thing of that story is they both played 90 minutes [at Brighton].
"The whole world saw what happened to Trent. What a boy. Unbelievable to play that game, and afterwards we got the information that he had pain.
"Nothing happened to him during the game, it's just what happened before it. Adrenalin is obviously an interesting thing, it gives you an opportunity to do a bit more than you would expect.
"We will see. We will wait for both, for sure really close for Saturday, I don't want to close any doors before anybody tells me to close them."
Klopp says Oxlade-Chamberlain has made progress in his rehabilitation from a long-term knee ligament injury and is on course to return before the end of the campaign.
"He is closer than Rhian [Brewster]," said Klopp. "He is in a very good way but it will still take a couple… last time I put a bit of pressure on the medical department.
"When I see him moving with the ball it looks really good, promising, close to a return. But in the end it is so long out, when was it April?
"He looks completely without any problems at the moment, no swelling any more. He can really work on his fitness issues. I think we will see him this season."
Klopp says Brewster is also making progress in his recovery from a serious ankle injury which has kept him out for 12 months.
However, he does not expect the England U17 international to be available this season.
When asked about Brewster's progress, Klopp said: "Not as far as he wants, for sure, but I saw him in the last hour.
"He was outside training, his running looks much better since he had surgery. He is in a good way but that will take time, unfortunately.
"He has time but we don't have to think about him before pre-season."
