Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is confident that Roberto Firmino will return from a muscular problem in time for Saturday's Premier League game against Aston Villa, which is set to be his last at Anfield.
The Brazilian attacker is confirmed to be leaving the Reds when his contract expires at the end of the season, and his final few weeks on Merseyside have been hampered by a muscle injury.
Firmino's issue was initially expected to keep him out for just three games, but the 31-year-old has now sat out Liverpool's last six matches, including Monday's 3-0 win over Leicester City.
While watching on from the bench, Firmino was serenaded by a chorus of chants from the away end at the King Power Stadium, before being mobbed by his teammates on the field in a celebratory gesture at the end of the game.
Liverpool will play their final home game of the season against Villa on Saturday afternoon, and Klopp is expecting Firmino to return to team training on Wednesday, thus giving himself a strong chance of signing off at Anfield with an on-field appearance.
"I think so," Klopp told his post-game press conference when asked if Firmino would be available this weekend. "So, we drive home, tomorrow will be a day off – not for him but for the others – and then Wednesday team training he will be in, that's my information.
"So, now we have to see because the Saturday game is a super-difficult game for plenty of reasons. Probably a farewell around the game for a few players and then playing for absolutely everything against [the] second or third-best team in the Premier League in the second part of the season. That's super-challenging, so we have to see. In the middle of everything, we have to win the game, we have to go for it.
"But around that, we want to show really the respect and appreciation and the love we feel for not only Bobby but Bobby as well, all the boys who will leave in the summer. So, it will be a special day with a difficult game in between or around whatever. We have to make sure that we can do both."
As Firmino gleefully watched on from the bench, Liverpool overcame a tricky start to tear Leicester to shreds at the King Power, where a first-half Curtis Jones brace preceded a sumptuous Trent Alexander-Arnold strike.
Victory over Leicester marked the Reds' seventh top-flight win in a row and has left them just one point behind Manchester United and Newcastle United, albeit having played a game more than both top-four outfits.
Furthermore, Klopp's side are now guaranteed to be finishing in the top six of the Premier League table and at least qualify for Europa League football next season, which the Reds coach did not even think was possible at the start of April.
"Six, seven weeks ago, I didn't believe it can happen," Klopp added. "What we lacked that time was obviously consistency and there was only one chance for us to get in these situations – winning pretty much all the football games, and that's what we had to do, it's crazy.
"But that's the situation we were in. That's good. We knew that before the game if we win we are qualified for Europa League, which is absolutely great from where we are coming from.
"All the rest is not in our own hands but we know we have to win all the games until the end of the season to have a chance. I said it now a couple of times, yes probably Newcastle and United are not watching us, are confident – that's all fine.
"But we were in similar situations and you wish anyway that the opponent was just losing and you have that kind of pressure off your shoulder. Our job is to keep the pressure. But again, it's not likely. But if not, then this is already better than we could have expected six, seven weeks ago."
Following Saturday's visit of the Lions, Liverpool will round off a tumultuous campaign away to already-relegated Southampton on May 28. body check tags ::
