IMAGE: Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah will be fit for the weekend fixture against big rivals Arsenal on Saturday. Photograph: Peter Powell/Reuters
Juergen Klopp expects forward Mohamed Salah to be ready for Liverpool’s trip to Arsenal despite a wrist injury but midfielders Jordan Henderson and Naby Keita are both ruled.
Salah was seen training with a protective cast on his forearm this week but Klopp dismissed any fresh injury concern relating to the Egyptian.
“Mo, it is nothing really serious — it’s a kind of inflammation of the tendon,” Klopp told a news conference on Friday.
“That’s pretty much all.
“It (the support) was only for protection — the pictures you saw were only protection and it has no influence.”
Henderson and Keita remain on the sidelines with hamstring injuries and will not be available for the clash at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
The pair is also a doubt for the Champions League trip to Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday.
“Hendo feels really good but it will be probably the start of the week when he will be back in training,” Klopp added.
“Naby, end of this week. It doesn’t make a big difference match-wise, but that’s how it looks.”
Klopp is yet to suffer defeat against Arsenal since arriving at Anfield, claiming 11 points out of 15 against the north London outfit in the league.
However, the German expects a difficult game against an Arsenal side rejuvenated under new manager Unai Emery and on an eight-match unbeaten run in the Premier League.
Klopp suggested the departure of long-standing manager Arsene Wenger at the end of last season forced some of the Arsenal players “out of their comfort zone” and back to delivering the goods on the pitch.
“Arsene Wenger is one of the best managers in the world, there’s no doubt about it. And sometimes after a long time when the mood in a club changes, it’s quite difficult to work against that,” said Klopp.
“If a new manager comes in — it was the same with me here — all players are immediately out of their comfort zone. They all have to prove from the first day that they are not only the name, they are the footballer as well.”
Hazard set for Chelsea return against Palace: Sarri
IMAGE: With 7 goals, Eden Hazard is the joint top-scorer in the EPL this season. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Reuters
Chelsea forward Eden Hazard is set to return against Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday but is unlikely to play the full match at StamfordBridge, manager Maurizio Sarri said on Friday.
Hazard, the league’s joint-top scorer this season with seven goals, has missed the last three matches with a back injury.
“Yesterday, he had a large part of the training with the team,” Sarri told reporters at a news conference on Friday.
“But maybe he will not be ready to play for 90 minutes at the moment because it was his first training for the two weeks.
“Probably he will be able to play for 40-45 minutes, so for us it is important.”
When pressed on whether Hazard will start the match, Sarri added: “I don’t know, I want to speak with him first.”
Sarri is unbeaten in his first 10 league matches as Chelsea manager and can now match the record held by Frank Clark, who took charge of 11 without defeat with NottinghamForest at the start of 1994-95 campaign.
But the Italian is not getting carried away with the team’s positive run of results.
“I think here I was lucky because my players were able to win without a high level of tactical level,” the Italian coach added. “I don’t want to think about the record, only to think about the match and to gain points.
“The record is only a consequence of the match. I have to send the message to my players that the match is the only thing that is important.”
Injured De Bruyne ruled out for a month
IMAGE: Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne reacts after sustaining an injury against Fulham in the League Cup match on Thursday. Photograph: Andrew Yates/File Photo/Reuters
Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne will be out for more than a month after suffering knee ligament damage against Fulham in the League Cup, his club said in a statement on Friday.
The Belgian playmaker was substituted in the 85th minute of City’s 2-0 win over Fulham at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday after opposing defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah landed heavily on his left knee.
“(De Bruyne) underwent scans on Friday,” City said in a statement on the club website https://www.mancity.com.
“No surgery is needed but he is expected to be out for between 5-6 weeks.”
De Bruyne, who played a pivotal role in City’s record-breaking Premier League title triumph last term, has already spent six weeks out injured this season.
The 27-year-old will now miss City’s Premier League clash with local rivals Manchester United on November 11 as well as the rest of the Champions League group stages.
Pep Guardiola’s City, currently top of the table with 26 points from 10 matches, host Southampton on Sunday.
Leicester players to attend owner’s funeral in Thailand
Striker Jamie Vardy and his Leicester City team mates will travel to Thailand for the funeral of owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha after Saturday’s Premier League match against CardiffCity.
The 60-year-old billionaire died last Saturday with four others when his helicopter crashed next to Leicester’s King Power Stadium.
The funeral, likely to last a week, starts on Saturday in Bangkok.
Former England international Vardy told Sky Sports television on Friday that he and the other players had to be there.
“That’s how we are — we are a close-knit group. We are one big family and one of the main reasons for that is Vichai,” he said.
“For us to be there is massively important.”
Vichai bought Leicester in 2010 and the team went on to stun the soccer world by winning the Premier League title against the odds in 2016.
Vardy said the last week had been the hardest of his life but the players, who will travel by road to Cardiff, were keen to play on Saturday.
“We all spoke about wanting to play,” said Vardy.
“It’s what Vichai would have wanted and that’s we are going to do.
“We know what we have to do and we need to go out and honour his name and put in a performance which will hopefully get the win.
“It is going to be tough and it will be very emotional, but we’ve all chatted about it. People are saying the result doesn’t matter, but for us lads we want to make it a positive result.”
Leicester are 12th in the table on 13 points, while promoted Cardiff are 17th with five points from 10 games.
CardiffCity fans are planning to unveil a giant flag with the Thai emblem at the match.
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