The latest on Joe Gomez and Joel Matip’s return dates for Liverpool

January 5, 2019
Jack Lusby

Jurgen Klopp has provided an update on the fitness of both Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, with the latter closer to making his comeback for Liverpool.

The centre-back pair were both sidelined with frustrating injuries last month, with Gomez fracturing his leg in the 3-1 victory over Burnley and Matip breaking his collarbone at the end of the 1-0 win over Napoli.

This has seen Klopp deploy Dejan Lovren alongside Virgil van Dijk in each of the last five games, while James Milner and Nathaniel Clyne were both required to fill in at right-back.

Having endured an intense festive period, the Reds are back to a more regular schedule, with a trip to Wolves to come in the FA Cup third round on Monday night.

Neither Gomez or Matip will be available at Molineux, and are not likely to be considered for the near future, but can be expected to make their comeback this month.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Saturday, Klopp detailed their progress in the treatment room.

“It’s getting better, but [he’s] not yet involved,” he said of Gomez.

“Joel is maybe a bit closer [to returning], I’m not sure, but hopefully he moves completely normal, we have to see how the bone healing is.

“That’s always how it is when something is broken, but from his movements it looks nearly normal.

“But still a few days to go until we can have him in team training, when he’s ready for contact, which for a centre-half is pretty important.

“Until then we will do all the fitness work. The good thing now is he can do all the fitness work already since a week or so [ago].

“This means when he’s back he will at least be 100 percent fit, then he has to get rhythm and everything will be fine.”

It could, therefore, be that Matip makes his return against Crystal Palace on January 19, while a long gap between then and the clash with Leicester on the last day of the month hopefully providing Gomez with time to recover.

Until then, Lovren may continue at centre-back for the clash with Wolves, unless Klopp has major faith in 16-year-old Ki-Jana Hoever to fill in alongside Van Dijk.