Jürgen Klopp is hopeful of having Dejan Lovren and Daniel Sturridge back in the Liverpool squad for Monday night's trip to Leicester City, admitting the former will be "very, very close" to starting.
The Reds travel to the King Power Stadium in the wake of Claudio Ranieri's sacking - the Italian having led the Foxes to an incredible title triumph last term - looking to build on an encouraging win over Tottenham Hotspur over a fortnight ago.
And Klopp is hopeful Lovren, who missed that win over Spurs and the defeat to Hull City before that, and Sturridge - having recently suffered from illness - will be involved.
Neither of the pair took part in the La Manga warm weather training camp last week, centre-back Lovren left behind on Merseyside and Sturridge returning early after travelling but struggling to overcome his virus.
In his pre-Leicester press conference, Klopp told reporters: "Unfortunately not all of the players could join us [in La Manga]. Daniel tried but unfortunately we had to send him home because of a virus infection."
The Reds boss hoped that England striker Sturridge could "come in today" on Friday "for the first time", insisting he needed a "few days" off to recover.
Lovren on the mend from troubling knee problem, says Klopp
On Lovren, Klopp explained: "Dejan could not join us but he trained today [Friday]. He was running today. It was possible, and he felt good. He could now doe a few more steps in the right direction so that's good."
The German also acknowledged that the centre-back visited a knee specialist in Germany to uncover the source of his trouble, Klopp saying that it "would not have taken this long time" if the injury was "completely simple."
He revealed that Lovren was "struggling a little bit" before the win over Chelsea last month, but said it was "getting better so he could play" once he warmed up and then he "played really well."
"After the game, the pain was too big for him," continued Klopp. "So we gave him a little rest with treatment and made some diagnosis. In the end we could not find the 100 per-cent clue so we sent him to a specialist who found a few things, not directly in the knee where he had the pain."
Klopp said that Lovren's knee "is fine" but explained that's where "the pain was", adding that the specialist helped to sort "these things around it."
He continued: "I spoke to him five minutes ago and he felt really well when he was running outside. Now he should be able to train tomorrow [Saturday]. He will be very, very close for the Leicester game. It's tight. But having him back in training is of course good for us."
Klopp also revealed that midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum had picked up a knock after sustaining a heavy blow to the calf in training earlier in the week but will be ready to start in the East Midlands.
He said that the Dutchman "had some little problems in training" and "got a real knock" but declared it "should be no problem" because "he could run" on Thursday and "could train" as of Friday.