Liverpool sweating on Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez fitness
Liverpool are sweating on Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez’s fitness ahead of a pivotal few days of Premier League and cup action, with the duo fighting to face Luton Town on Wednesday.
Manager Jurgen Klopp said Salah and Nunez are being monitored ‘day to day’ as his injury problems intensify with a Wembley final on the horizon.
Neither player has been ruled out of the midweek fixture against Rob Edwards’ side, but Klopp is suitably concerned.
Salah suffered muscle fatigue after making his goalscoring comeback from a hamstring injury against Brentford on Saturday, while Nunez was subbed at half-time as a precaution having also complained of muscle pain.
With nine first team players already ruled out of the Carabao Cup Final against Chelsea, Klopp can ill afford losing two more of his senior stars.
“We have to see how it develops. It’s nothing crazy, but we have to see,” Klopp said of Salah.
“It’s a similar area where he feels it (fatigue) a little bit.”
Nunez is also a cause of concern, with Klopp adamant he will not compromise team selection against Luton because of the cup final against Chelsea.
“Look, the situation we have in the Premier League is where pretty much the competition we are in each game is a final,” said Klopp.
“There is no game where you can say, ‘Let’s have a look at how the others play at the weekend and if we lose it might be alright’. We cannot see it like that, for us it is game by game who is available and then use them in the best possible way. There is no other chance. If he (Nunez) was fully fit there is no reason to keep him out and no chance for us. That is it. “How we said, we go day by day.”
Klopp has confirmed Diogo Jota will be out for ‘months’ with knee ligament damage, and midfielder Curtis Jones also faces an unspecified period of rehabilitation with an ankle issue.
Despite the setbacks, Klopp said he does not want or expect the list of absentees to be an excuse for Liverpool’s quadruple bid to be derailed.
“What I want to say is that whatever line up we have I want people not to be in a situation where they are like, ‘Oh he’s out, he’s out, he’s out’ because a couple of players will be out - that is definitely the case.
“It is bad luck, yes, but it is absolutely our job to be as strong as possible and if we play at home I have to ask for the support. If we are in a good mood and go for it but the crowd thinks, ‘Yes but he would have scored there’ then that is a problem. Whoever plays will run his socks off, that is clear.”