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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
James Pearce

Dejan Lovren returns as Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp prepares to make Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain decision at Cardiff

Dejan Lovren is in contention to return to the Liverpool squad for Sunday's Premier League trip to Cardiff City as Jurgen Klopp dismissed suggestions that fatigue could hamper his double-chasers.

The Croatia international missed the midweek Champions League triumph over FC Porto but has now recovered from illness.

Klopp has plenty of options at centre-back after Joe Gomez made his comeback against the Portuguese champions. Gomez came off the bench to play the final 24 minutes at the Estadio do Dragao after four months out with a broken leg.

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The Reds boss must also decide whether to name Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in a matchday squad for the first time this season after he spent the week building up his fitness at Melwood.

“Dejan was ill but he should be available again,” Klopp said.

“Pretty much all the rest should be available. I heard nothing serious after Porto.

“Joe looked good. Will he start? We'll see. We have a lot of players with a lot of rhythm but it’s good to have him. It’s the same with Ox. It’s very good to have them back and in contention.”

Naby Keita and Dejan Lovren applaud and celebrate at the end of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final, first leg football match between Liverpool and FC Porto at Anfield (LLUIS GENE/AFP/Getty Images)

Jordan Henderson and Naby Keita are likely to return to the starting line up after Klopp decided to rotate his midfielders in midweek.

“We are not tired,” Klopp insisted.

“It’s a decisive period of the season and it’s good to be involved in two competitions. It’s a sign of success.

“We recover, training is low intensity at the moment, we don’t have to do a lot. The most important sessions in the week are the games we play.

“We go for it. We create a basis but there is a moment where you have to use the basis, and we are in that.

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“Because there is another very, very strong team in the league, we have to win all our games, and in the Champions League it is always like this.

“Nothing has changed since July 2018. We are in it and now we want to win it.

“if you go for a big goal, you don’t feel anything. It’s like a marathon. And if you are up front after 40 kilometres, you don’t think about the 40 kilometres you have in your legs, you think about the two kilometres to come. That’s how we feel in the moment.”

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