Mohamed Salah jokes and Trent Alexander-Arnold returns - what we spotted in Liverpool training

Liverpool could move onto a whopping 17 wins from 19 matches if it can beat Real Madrid for the first time since 2009 this Wednesday. And ahead of that huge game at Anfield, Arne Slot has been putting his players through their paces in Kirkby.

As well as facing Real Madrid this week, Liverpool also has Manchester City coming up at the weekend. It's therefore set to be a massive few days that could further ignite the Slot era.

Here's what Liverpool.com spotted during the training session on Tuesday. Slot will address the media at 3.30pm UK time (10.30am ET) when a full injury update is likely to be on the agenda. You can follow updates here where the Liverpool boss will almost certainly be asked about Mohamed Salah and his contract comments too.

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Liverpool injury latest

Kostas Tsimikas was missing here with the Greek having picked up a knock that could keep him out for a couple of games. But Arne Slot has Andy Robertson and Joe Gomez as other options who can play at left-back.

Trent Alexander-Arnold was a part of the session in what will be a huge boost ahead of Manchester City at the weekend. Diogo Jota and Alisson Becker are still absent but Federico Chiesa was there.

The Italian winger was training with two members of the Liverpool coaching staff before the rest of the group emerged and Chiesa then joined the rest of his teammates. Time will tell as to whether or not how long it will be before he returns to competitive match action, with the Reds being very careful as he continues to build up his fitness levels.

Mohamed Salah all smiles

Before the session, Salah was pictured smiling at the AXA Training Centre — and why wouldn't he be after his heroics at the weekend? He might have taken the chance to speak out about his contract situation but the Egyptian is in the best form he has been in for a while at the moment, scoring and creating for fun.

Salah is showing no signs of slowing down in terms of his levels but there is nothing distracting him either. Chatter about his contract will continue in the background but on the field, the 32-year-old is likely to carry on finding the back of the net every week and setting up big chances for his teammates.

Here, he was enjoying his time on the grass. Salah's smile was just about visible above his snood as he joked around with the likes of Curtis Jones and Andy Robertson. Liverpool fans — and seemingly the man himself — will hope that this isn't the last season in which he gets to prepare for Champions League soccer in Kirkby.

Liverpool spirits high

With Liverpool heading into the huge clash with Real Madrid at the top of the Champions League table, there is a bit less pressure on the Reds to get a result — certainly compared to the Spaniard's languishing in 18th spot. Top of the Premier League by eight points, the spirits in the Liverpool camp are rightly high.

The training drills, as ever with these mandatory sessions, were not giving much away and were very light. In the warm-up, Harvey Elliott could be seen jumping around and there was a big grin on the faces of Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo too.

Things are going well and that was reflected in the small glimpse of preparations offered here. Beat Real Madrid, and that would set up the massive clash with Manchester City on Sunday even more perfectly.