Jurgen Klopp confirms double major fitness boost ahead of the FA Cup clash against Norwich City

Jurgen Klopp confirms double major fitness boost ahead of the FA Cup clash against Norwich City

Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp has confirmed a double fitness boost ahead of the Red’s FA Cup clash with Norwich City at Anfield on Wednesday.

Ahead of the match, Jurgen Klopp spoke to the media during his pre-match press conference this afternoon. The Reds boss provided an update on the fitness of Thiago Alcantara and Luis Diaz.

Thiago was initially named in Liverpool’s squad to face Chelsea in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley.

However, the Spanish international suffered a hamstring injury during the warm-up and was forced to watch the thrilling penalty shoot-out victory from the sidelines.

Many feared he will be out for a long time, but a scan has revealed only minor damage. Klopp didn’t want to put a firm timescale on the midfielder’s recovery but refused to rule Thiago out of Saturday’s Premier League clash against West Ham.

Thiago and Luis Diaz (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Klopp also suggested Thiago could be ready for Liverpool’s Champions League last-16 second-leg tie with Inter Milan next week. While the former Bayern Munich star will ‘definitely’ be available for the game with Brighton the following weekend.

“He’s fine again but not fit again. Like always, you don’t know [how long he will be out] exactly. Weekend not sure, maybe Milan, after that definitely.” said Klopp

Also, there is positive news on the fitness of Luis Diaz. Liverpool’s January signing impressed again during the win over Chelsea on Sunday before being subbed in extra time sparking fears he may have picked up a knock.

However, Klopp has confirmed Diaz was just suffering from fatigue following an intense battle with Chelsea and didn’t sustain any injury at Wembley.

When asked if Diaz was just fatigued, Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com: “Just’ fatigue? Fatigue is enough. Yeah, he did really well [in the final]. He had nothing, we just took him off because we saw he got tired. He was tired earlier but he was still fighting really hard.”

Liverpool are expected to make several changes from the side that beat Chelsea with the likes of Ibrahima Konate, Kostas Tsimikas, James Milner, Harvey Elliott, Diogo Jota, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all pushing for starts.