Fabinho Looks to “Get Stronger” and Reclaim His Place in Liverpool’s Starting XI

After seeing a handful of minutes off the bench against Manchester United to mark his return to full fitness, Fabinho is expected to see his playing time bumped up today against Wolves as Liverpool embark on a spot of mid-week Premier League action.

It’s good news for the Reds, for whom Fabinho was arguably the player of the season for much of the autumn before being sidelined by an ankle injury—the club’s record in his absence, though, means despite that he’ll now have to earn back his place.

“The injury is better, I’m really confident in my ankle,” Fabinho said of his Sunday return before touching on what comes next. “With the more minutes I get under my belt, the more time playing, I’ll be able to get back to full fitness—and get even stronger.”

While he may have to get even stronger to regain his lock on the starting eleven, in his absence a lot of players—particularly captain Jordan Henderson—have put in a lot of minutes, and Fabinho’s return will mean a chance to rest and rotate them.

Starting, it’s expected, against Wolves, who pose a difficult challenge and are in the thick of the top four fight along with Manchester United, Tottenham, and Sheffield as the quartet all chase Chelsea for the fourth and final place in next season’s Champions League.

“It’ll be a very difficult game, definitely,” he added. “We saw when they came to Anfield, it was one of our hardest games this season and we’ve seen at home they are a match for anyone—they beat [Manchester] City, so they are a very dangerous team.

“But we’ve had a good amount of time to prepare, we know their team well, we know their strengths, so we’ll prepare and go there looking for the victory.”