Liverpool Face Defensive Crisis with Lovren and Matip Doubts for Saturday

Adam Lallana has returned to running at speed for the first time following his pre-season thigh injury, training on his own today at Melwood and setting up expectations that he could be back in action by the start of next month. He won’t be in line to play a role this weekend, though.

Still, for a player expected to be out until at least the middle of October and perhaps longer, it’s a positive sign, one that suggests Lallana could have a part to play for Liverpool ahead of schedule. More worrying is news of Dejan Lovren, who has not trained this week due to a back injury.

At his press conference ahead of Saturday’s league match against Leicester City, Jürgen Klopp confirmed that Lovren remains absent—and that the expectation is that he will not be able to start. The news got worse when Klopp reported Joël Matip and Emre Can were also doubts.

“We have to wait and train with the boys who are available,” Klopp noted. “That’s always the challenge. Players can get ill overnight and you have to make another plan. So we prepare for everything until we know who we use, and there will be different lineups for sure on both sides.”

Matip and Can are both dealing with minor unspecified knocks and while the hope is they will be ready to train today or tomorrow and then be ready to play on the weekend when Liverpool face Leicester City for the second time this week, right now that hope is a long way from certain.