Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Virgil van Dijk is 100 per cent ready to face Crystal Palace tomorrow (Saturday), as things stand.
Doubts were raised over whether the Dutchman would be available for the game after he pulled out of the Netherlands squad for the recent internationals, due to personal circumstances.
He was one of several players Liverpool faced an anxious wait on over the international break, with Mohamed Salah ruled out of Egypt's games with an ankle injury, while Andrew Robertson also missed Scotland's fixtures with an ankle problem and central defender Joel Matip has also been out in recent weeks.
In addition, Sadio Mane was substituted at half time in Senegal's match with Eswatini, although it is understood that was as a precaution with the forward on a yellow card.
But Klopp has today been speaking about the fitness of different players within his squad, admitting that Liverpool will have to make some late calls over the availability of some key men for the game against Palace.
However, he said van Dijk is fit to play at the moment.
“In the moment, yes, Virgil is 100 per cent available," he said, speaking at his pre-match press conference.
“But it’s the time of the year when players get out of the squad overnight, unfortunately, with some other things – getting sick or ill or whatever.
“From the others, I cannot say 100 per cent, I don’t know 100 per cent. Today is a very important session to judge that, especially with the players who came back late.
“Fabinho and Bobby [Roberto Firmino] and Ali [Alisson] played on Tuesday, Gini Wijnaldum played on Tuesday, so we have these players where we really need to have a look at how they react and what makes sense for them or not.
“It’s always how it is with the first game after the international [break], we have to wait until the last second pretty much to make the decision. Nobody came back with a serious injury or something like that but we still have to look how they are.”
Klopp was also asked separately about Salah, who was taken off in Liverpool's 3-1 win against Manchester City prior to the international break.
And the Reds boss said that while he did train yesterday (Thursday), he is yet to make a decision on his availability.
“Yesterday he trained. He trained the whole time since he was here, but only the things we wanted him to do," he said.
“Today is another important session to see how it looks and we can make the decision. It’s not that it got worse but it’s still kind of there, that’s the problem. We have to be sensible with things like this.
“But I didn’t make the decision. If I would have made a decision, I probably wouldn’t have told you now, but it’s true I have to see the session today.
