Mohamed Salah set to return for Liverpool against Aston Villa
The forward has missed the Reds’ last two matches with a muscle injury but is expected to be back in the squad at Villa Park
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is set to return for Friday’s Premier League clash against Aston Villa after missing the Reds’ last two matches with a muscle injury.
Ibrahima Konate is also fit despite being forced off against Chelsea last weekend, while Alisson Becker and Florian Wirtz will be assessed ahead of the trip to Villa Park.
“Ibou is OK, trained with us,” said head coach Arne Slot at his pre-match press conference this morning.
“Mo will be available tomorrow for only a few minutes, but hopefully can come in.
“Alisson trains with us again, let’s see where he is tomorrow, if he is ready already or has to wait one more week.”
On Wirtz, he said: “Stomach infection, so let’s see how fit he is for tomorrow. He’s on antibiotics. Let’s see if he’s ready to play tomorrow.”
Victory for either side at Villa Park would secure a top-five finish and confirm qualification for the Champions League.
Slot added: The intention is never to go to a low block, and Premier League and Champions League means you face good teams who want to be on the ball and have possession.
“Sometimes teams have phases where they are better. The team that will win the league, I assume, Arsenal, has spells where they defend in a low block – they do that very well.
“You have to accept you don’t want it but you have to defend sometimes, that is quite common. You defend with 11 players, ideally high, but if you have to, you try to keep a clean sheet. In moments when we have to defend we have conceded too many.
“In 10-15 mins v Chelsea, we conceded and that is a worry. And then in the moments when we are at our best, we struggle to score the goals we should score.
“Especially compared to last season, we converted them much better. Of course we can do something and we try to and you saw this v Chelsea, second half was much different.
“But it’s a situation where Chelsea had the ball a lot, we won it with 11 behind the ball, so no-one to play into. It’s so normal in PL, you constantly see this everywhere, the league is so strong.
“Any team has a spell in 10-15 mins where one team is better. You can also say, I say 70-80% of the time we’ve been the better team in our games but that doesn’t lead to enough chances. We are aware of why that is.”
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