Lovren and Mignolet Fit to Face Leicester City

With Martin Skrtel suffering a hamstring tear that is expected to keep him out for six weeks, Liverpool looked to be facing something of a depth crisis at centre half. At his pre-match press conference today, though, manager Jürgen Klopp had some good news: Dejan Lovren has returned to training earlier than expected.

"Skrtel is not doing too good," began the manager when asked about the growing list of injured defenders at the club. "Lovren though is back. He is training and has trained two days in a row. So he will be available. Mignolet is also training, but for Milner there is no chance for Leicester. For him we have to wait one-two weeks to see."

Lovren’s return is good news given many thought Klopp’s options would be Kolo Toure—who has struggled to complete 90 minutes this season—or one of midfielders Lucas Leiva or Emre Can paired with Mamadou Sakho on Boxing Day when Liverpool face off against surprise league leaders Leicester City at Anfield.

That Mignolet is back, though, is even better news. Though the Belgian shot stopper faces a great deal of criticism for his command of the box and aerial miscues, Adam Bogdan’s struggles when called upon against Watford showed that the grass isn’t always greener, and for all his flaws, Mignolet is still a superb shot stopper.

In other injury news, the manager told the gathered media that Jordan Rossiter remained sidelined. Meanwhile, Daniel Sturridge has begun light training on his own once again, with Klopp saying he would spent the next week to ten days getting back up to speed and only then would he try to make a return to action.