Jurgen Klopp confirmed that Virgil Van Dijk will return to the Liverpool squad to face Arsenal on Sunday, whilst Thiago Alcantara could also feature.
If both return, it will be a welcome boost to the Reds as they seek to close the gap on the top four, which currently stands at ten points.
“Virgil, completely normal back in training, Luis and Thiago training completely normal," he said.
The 55-year-old seemed to rule Luis Diaz out of the contest, with his return set to come next week after suffering an injury in the reverse fixture in October.
"The plan with Luis is that he will be available 100% for Leeds, it looks good, but it was a long injury so we have to be careful, so we will probably not involve him Sunday.
Thiago, slightly different, he was not out that long, trained now three times, he might be available, we have to check how he feels today."
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Title-chasing opposition
Klopp was full of praise for the opposition on Sunday, and was also highly complementary of his opposite in the dugout, Mikel Arteta.
“I knew Arsenal before I arrived at Liverpool, obviously but never felt, wait yes, I did actually, in the Champions League with Dortmund.
Mikel is building this team for a few years now, the outcome is pretty impressive, the way they play is fun to watch, super lively, really good football, top players on the pitch, good match plans.
Arsenal deserves where they are, a mix of really good football and extreme emotions, I would say, a good way to play to be honest, I really think Mikel deserved each minute he got there when it was not going perfectly well.
Pretty stable team, brought in super important players but not too many, thats what they are using now.
Not exactly what you can say about us at the moment, but it is Anfield, we still have to show reaction after reaction, that is what will absolutely try on Sunday."
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Capitalising on Chelsea failures
The German called on his side to capitalise on the big moments in matches after a frustrating draw with Chelsea, who are also struggling.
“Good moments in games, building on that, good challenges, good battles in little areas, keeping the ball because our main problem when you look at that game it was like flipper.
We have the ball, we give it away, we have the ball, we give it away, we have the ball, we give it away, it is like you cannot watch that quick, it is like from an analysis point of view, you think the computer is broke.
I liked the desire, the passion, this game is gone we have a new chance, we have had two days longer to prepare the game, we have had three proper sessions where we can train, that has usually always helped us.
If we win this game at the weekend, we will have four points out of these games, that would be a completely normal situation for us, in the past when we played Chelsea in our best moments, it was not much better.
Always difficult, maybe we might have won one or two games there, but most of the time we drew there. Losing at City is possible, always possible, and now we have to win a football game and then we will see again.
We have to play better football, we have to keep the ball in the decisive areas, we cannot pass the ball into their feet, the last game is a super example, two teams who played last year at an incredible level, the teams were not that different and both were not able to do that.
They want it desperately, even more than in good times, but it didn’t work out. That just shows us what happens if the confidence level is not on the highest level, that is what we have to go through, you cannot force it.
We have to help the boys with different things, in a home game, a massive boost can be the crowd, celebrating challenges, celebrating a sliding tackle, ball goes out and it is like that is where it all started.
Block the ball, don't win it by block and it goes out, first little victory, that is what you have to go on, all of a sudden nobody thinks about confidence anymore, everyone has it and they are themselves again, and that is what we are working on."
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Opportunities ahead?
Klopp thinks that the schedule from now until the end of season could benefit his squad, allowing fringe players to make a claim for a starting berth in training.
"From now on, if we don’t play three times a week, we have more time to train, then I have to and I will make decisions about the team based on what I saw in training. That opens the door for everyone.
We have to change, we have to find a basis we can build on. First step, intensity, desire, passion, good at Chelsea, the rest not so much, let’s go from there.
I am really calm in this moment, I am in it, I see everything, I base my decisions on that. In the end we will see what the outcome is, I cannot do more, we have to keep going and we will.”
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The power of Anfield
Finally, the Reds boss called on the Anfield crowd to get behind the team against the Gunners.
"We will give it a proper try, and we need Anfield, that is clear.
Very important, it is not the only thing we should rely on, it is not that we think okay it is Anfield so we will win, there were a lot of tough games we lost unfortunately here, which was not helpful.
It is no secret that the combination of our people, the ground and the boys is a pretty good combination, that is what we have to throw in as well, but not rely on it, we have to push the train in this moment, I have a very good feeling we can do it.”
