Liverpool Forward Mohamed Salah in Contention to Play against Brentford on Saturday

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. (AFP)
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. (AFP)
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Liverpool Forward Mohamed Salah in Contention to Play against Brentford on Saturday

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. (AFP)
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. (AFP)

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah could play against Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday after recovering from a hamstring injury, manager Jurgen Klopp said.

The Egypt international has been out for a month since sustaining the injury at the Africa Cup of Nations.

“Mo is back in full training, that brings him automatically in contention of course,” Klopp said Friday.

Salah's return to fitness is a boost to Liverpool after injury to Trent Alexander-Arnold, Thiago Alcantara and Dominik Szoboszlai.

Klopp dismissed suggestions that setbacks for those players could be attributed to them returning too soon after injury.

Alexander-Arnold is out of next week's League Cup final against Chelsea because of a recurrence of a knee problem in last weekend’s win against Burnley.

Thiago was out for around nine months with a hip injury and suffered a muscle problem 10 minutes into his comeback against Arsenal earlier this month.

Szoboszlai missed most of January with a hamstring problem. He is out again after hurting his hamstring.

Klopp insisted “we never forced anyone back and never will do.

"But we work in a high-performance area and if you have the same injury you are fit after three days and (for) another guy (it can be) after four weeks," Klopp said.

"We have to bring the boys back as soon as possible but never sooner than they are ready from our point of view.”



Premier League Rejects City Request to Delay Next Season’s Games after Club World Cup

Football - Premier League - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - September 28, 2024 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - September 28, 2024 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts. (Reuters)
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Premier League Rejects City Request to Delay Next Season’s Games after Club World Cup

Football - Premier League - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - September 28, 2024 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - September 28, 2024 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts. (Reuters)

The Premier League has rejected Manchester City's request to postpone the first two games of the 2025-26 season to help the players recover after their FIFA Club World Cup campaign in the US, the club's manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.

City and Chelsea are the two English clubs who have qualified for the expanded month-long Club World Cup set to start on June 15. The Premier League's season will begin in August.

An increasingly packed football calendar has been a concern among a growing number of players and managers. A report by global players' union FIFPRO said some players get only 12% of the year to rest.

The Premier League did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

City midfielder Rodri said in September that players could be close to strike action over the time they are required to play. A knee ligament injury has since put him out for the season.

"I don’t know if we will play more games than the treble year (2022-23)... maybe we'll play less games," Guardiola told reporters.

"The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery. Thank you so much. They don't postpone these games so that will be the moment of, oh, what do we have to do?"

He said the Club World Cup will make it even more difficult for clubs to manage player workload.