Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Dominik Szoboszlai and Trent Alexander-Arnold are both in with a "chance" of making their comebacks from injury in Sunday's FA Cup fourth-round tie with Norwich City.
Neither man has featured for the past couple of weeks, with Szoboszlai sustaining a hamstring problem during the Reds' 4-2 Premier League win over Newcastle United on New Year's Day.
Meanwhile, Alexander-Arnold played a starring role in Liverpool's 2-0 win over Arsenal in the third round of the FA Cup, but it was revealed that the right-back had hyperextended his knee in the Emirates clash and would be sidelined for a few weeks.
Both players sat out Wednesday's 1-1 EFL Cup semi-final second-leg draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage, where Klopp's side set up a tantalising final with Chelsea courtesy of a 3-2 aggregate victory, but Andrew Robertson was back on the bench in West London.
The left-back's appearance in the matchday squad was his first since he dislocated his shoulder while playing for Scotland in October, and Klopp provided updates on the trio in Thursday's pre-game press conference.
While the Liverpool boss is confident that Robertson and Szoboszlai are ready for minutes, he has conceded that he will have to make a late call on Alexander-Arnold, but he has not ruled his vice-captain out of the Norwich match entirely.
"There's a chance for all of them but we will really have to see. It's touch and go," Klopp said. "Robbo is physically ready and I think it was good to have him in the matchday squad, and he's completely in the normal team training schedule.
"Like Dom from tomorrow on. He had yesterday a session, today I think he has a day off as well and then from tomorrow on he is in completely normal. That means he is obviously ready for minutes.
"With Trent, is it already Norwich or is it the game after? We have to see. He was not in team training, not even parts of team training yet, so if he can be in tomorrow then I have to make a decision there. That's it pretty much with these boys. So then we will see. It would be absolutely very helpful if they all could be involved, but we have to see."
While Robertson, Szoboszlai and Alexander-Arnold are all on the cusp of first-team returns, Liverpool still have a few long-term occupants in the treatment room in Joel Matip, Stefan Bajcetic, Ben Doak, Thiago Alcantara and Kostas Tsimikas.
Matip and Doak are both facing months in the infirmary with their respective knee problems, but Thiago (hip) and Bajcetic (calf) are believed to be on track to return to first-team training at some point in February.
In addition, Klopp has declared Tsimikas fully fit after his collarbone fracture against Arsenal in December, but the Greece international currently remains out of the picture while his bone heals.
"I hope that Thiago [Alcantara] and Stefan [Bajcetic] will be back as well rather sooner than later, that would be cool," Klopp added. "Kosti [Kostas Tsimikas] is close. Kosti is actually fit, Kosti just has to wait now for the green light because the bone healing takes much longer, but the plate is doing the job in the moment.
"Now we have to figure out when is one taking enough over, let me say it like that. And then he's in training as well. He was not out that long, like Trent was not, like Dom was not."
The Reds will also welcome the Canaries to Merseyside without the services of Wataru Endo (Asian Cup) and Mohamed Salah, who has flown home from the Africa Cup of Nations to undergo treatment on a muscular injury but will return to compete in the knockout rounds if he makes a rapid recovery. body check tags ::
