Liverpool can get Trent Alexander-Arnold up to speed quickly – if he can play this Sunday. The right-back has been out since the draw with Manchester City.
Trent Alexander-Arnold could be back to face Wolves. The Express claims he’ll feature – something he hasn’t done since before the international break.
That’s undoubtedly great news for Liverpool as they continue to deal with an injury crisis. But the Scouser has been out for a while and the Reds can’t expect him to come back in at a sprint.
They’ll have to get Alexander-Arnold up to speed gradually. Fortunately, however, that should be quite easy if he’s able to paly on Sunday.
Back-to-back
Liverpool face Wolves tomorrow and then Midtjylland in midweek. The latter is just a formality, however, as the Reds are already through their Champions League group as winners.
Jurgen Klopp will surely use that game to manage fitness, then. He’ll likely rest some stars and use the 90 minutes to build squad players’ fitness.
But Alexander-Arnold comes into things, too. Liverpool need to build his fitness over a few games, as we said, but the Midtjylland fixture can play a part.
We wouldn’t expect Klopp to risk throwing Alexander-Arnold in from the start against Wolves. He’ll likely come off the bench, though, and play 20-30 minutes.
If he can get through that okay, then Liverpool can assess the player and give him as many minutes as he needs against Midtjylland. If he can only handle another 30, then he can definitely get that. If he’s capable of starting, he can do that, too.
It means that Trent Alexander-Arnold should be in reasonably good shape by the time Liverpool face Fulham next week.
That fixture comes just a few days before Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield. Thus Liverpool will want to use the next three games – particularly Midtjylland – to build Alexander-Arnold up for that one.
And as long as he can make a return against Wolves, they should be able to do that quite easily.
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