Liverpool will be boosted by the return of Ibrahima Konate for Sunday’s Premier League clash with Tottenham, Jurgen Klopp has confirmed.
The French centre-back was absent for Wednesday’s hard-fought 2-1 win at West Ham with an unspecified knock that had forced him to miss training at Kirkby.
Joel Matip started alongside Virgil van Dijk in the heart of defence instead and wound up heading in the winning goal at the London Stadium as seventh-placed Liverpool fought back from an early deficit to seal a third consecutive victory and offer a further boost to their hopes of European qualification for next term.
However, Klopp has now revealed that Konate will be back fit for Sunday’s visit of Tottenham to Merseyside, a test that may now be considerably tougher after Spurs battled back themselves from 2-0 down to claim a dramatic point against Manchester United on Thursday in Ryan Mason’s first match back in temporary charge.
Diogo Jota should also be ready for the game despite a back issue sustained against West Ham, while Naby Keita is now back in training having not played since February.
However, the likes of Roberto Firmino, Stefan Bajcetic and Calvin Ramsay all remain sidelined for Liverpool, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also isn’t training at the moment.
“Ibou (Konate) will be back [for Spurs],” Klopp revealed at his pre-match press conference on Friday morning.
“Naby will train. I didn’t get the medical report yet. Ox isn’t training. Diogo got a bad knock in his back but should be alright.”
Klopp is anticipating a difficult challenge against a possibly now resurgent Spurs, whom he labelled as by far the greatest counter-attacking team in Europe despite their recent struggles under Antonio Conte and his former assistant Cristian Stellini that culminated in a 6-1 humiliation at Newcastle last weekend in which they conceded five times in just 21 minutes.
“This is a season where a lot of things are difficult for a lot of teams,” Klopp said. “We have our problems, Chelsea have problems, Tottenham have problems. It is not cool for us but opens it up for other teams and Champions League spots are there to grab for other teams.
“Little mistakes can cause massive problems. I don’t know anything about that for Tottenham, but they showed they are outstanding last night. I will be prepared for the best possible Tottenham side. They are the best counter-attacking side in Europe by some distance.”
With a seven-point gap to the top four and fourth-placed Manchester United having played a game less, Champions League qualification for Liverpool is likely to be out of reach for next season.
However, Klopp insists that he will not be disheartened if his side manage to seal a berth in the Europa League after such a strange campaign.
“We take what we get,” he said. “It is not that we said that would be fantastic at the start of the season but this season taught us a few things. If it is Europa League, it is Europa League.
“I want to play the best possible football. We have to be focussed on the game coming up, that is Tottenham. What happens in the next few weeks will be very important for next season.”
