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Dejan Lovren Fit For Swansea Return

The Liverpool center-back has sufficiently recovered from a viral infection.

Chelsea v Liverpool - Premier League Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

The good news continues for Jürgen Klopp. His Liverpool team, riding high on a four game winning streak, will likely have its preferred center-back partnership returned to the starting XI against Swansea on Saturday. Dejan Lovren, absent last week when the Reds thumped Hull City due to a viral infection, has recovered and will return to full training as the team prepares for the weekend’s match.

Lovren has had a bit of a strange start to the season. Liverpool have played six league games so far, but Klopp’s first choice center-back has missed two of them - both home games, as a matter of fact. Earlier this month, he missed the home opener against Leicester City. In his place was the steadfast Lucas, doing a decent job out of position save for one glaring mistake that led to Leicester’s only goal. The reason for his absence was a shiner he received in training that swelled large enough to force his eye shut.

Last week, Lovren was kept out of the game with a viral infection, missing Liverpool’s second resounding home victory. Since club football will be on hold next week while players go off for international duty, Lovren will have to wait until Liverpool’s big game against Manchester United on October 17th.

Before that, he’ll be back in the running for the Swansea game away at Liberty Stadium before the break, and if Klopp deems him 100%, he’ll likely regain his place alongside Joël Matip from Ragnar Klavan, last week’s substitute.

Klopp will look to strengthen the new partnership between Matip and Lovren by allowing them to string together a several consecutive games in a row to work together. It’s been some time since Liverpool have had a strong, consistent center-back pairing to rely on, but Lovren and Matip have looked well on their way in the handful of games they’ve played together so far. Now we just have to hope that both players remain healthy for an extended period of time.

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