A year ago
Virgil van Dijk will return to action for the Reds against Arsenal on Sunday, according to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp. Thiago Alcantara is also expected to play.
Thiago has not been seen since early February after suffering a hip injury that forced him to miss Liverpool's last ten games in all competitions. Van Dijk, meanwhile, missed the recent goalless draw with Chelsea due to illness.
Liverpool has experienced a lot of difficulties as a result of injuries, including the season-ending losses of Stefan Bajcetic and Calvin Ramsay. With a knee injury, winger Luis Diaz has also been absent since October; nevertheless, while the Colombian is getting closer to returning, coming Sunday will be too soon.
According to the idea with Luis, he will be totally available for Leeds, Klopp informed reporters. "Even if everything appears to be in order, the damage was very serious, therefore we must proceed with caution. Sunday probably won't see us involving him."
Klopp continued, "Virgil was entirely normal during training in terms of Van Dijk and Thiago. As usual, Luis and Thiago trained. Compared to Diaz, Thiago appears slightly different. He is not gone for very long.
"Trained three, four, or more times with the team thus far. He might be available, but we need to wait until Friday to see how he is feeling.
In the race to qualify for the Europa League, Liverpool is currently ninth in the Premier League, 10 points behind Tottenham and Brighton.
If Liverpool lost to Mikel Arteta's champions-elect, Brentford might pass them, while Chelsea and Fulham could both cut the distance to Klopp's team to just one point.
After struggling in his first few games, the Netherlands international joined Liverpool in January for a reported £35.4 million. In February and March, he started to feel more at ease and scored four goals, including two against Manchester United in a record 7-0 victory.
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