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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
George Flood

Jurgen Klopp reveals Liverpool injury boost for Arsenal title showdown

Liverpool will have Ryan Gravenberch fit for Saturday's crunch Premier League title showdown with Arsenal, but the game comes too soon for both Alexis Mac Allister and Diogo Jota.

Gravenberch limped out of last weekend's disappointing home goalless draw with fierce rivals Manchester United, amid fears that he had sustained a hamstring injury.

However, Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders revealed before Wednesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final clash with West Ham that the Dutch midfielder was only suffering from fatigue after scans, adding that he was likely to return to training at Kirkby on Tuesday.

Gravenberch sat out the 5-1 win over the Hammers that teed up a two-legged semi-final tie against Fulham in the New Year, but has been involved in training since and will be available for tomorrow's huge visit of Arsenal to Merseyside.

Mac Allister and Jota are also progressing well in their respective recoveries, but will not be fit in time to face the Gunners.

Mac Allister has been out since the 2-0 win at Sheffield United on December 6 with a nasty knee injury, while Jota suffered a muscle problem during the high-profile draw with title rivals Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium last month.

"Ryan [Gravenberch]," Klopp told reporters at his pre-Arsenal press conference on Friday when asked which of his injured group could return this weekend.

Quick recovery: Ryan Gravenberch limped out of Liverpool's draw with Manchester United at Anfield last weekend (Getty Images)

"Macca [Mac Allister] and Diogo getting closer and closer but not ready for tomorrow. That's it."

Second-place Liverpool remain without long-term absentees Joel Matip, Thiago and Stefan Bajcetic against leaders Arsenal in a game that will determine who occupies top spot at Christmas, as well as Andy Robertson.

The stalwart left-back has not played since dislocating his shoulder while away on international duty with Scotland in October and undergoing surgery.

Robertson was expected to return to action in January, something Klopp is still hopeful of as he admitted that Liverpool must remain patient with his rehabilitation.

"Andy, I sat yesterday pretty long with him and actually he's doing well," Klopp said. "The problem is a little bit that the shoulder is not there. The rest of the body is fine but we need to be patient a little bit. We need to be patient a little bit longer but it's fine.

"So he can do all the physical work already, which annoys him quite a lot because he's not allowed for ball training, a little bit of passing maybe and stuff like this – but not properly.

"But physically when he's ready to go, allowed to go shoulder-wise, then I think it's a short time until he will be back. We all hope it will be in January but I don't know."

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