Injury update ahead of Aston Villa clash

Jurgen Klopp has spoken at his pre-match press conference today ahead of the trip to Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon and has admitted that although Liverpool’s injury crisis is starting to ease up, there are still a few players who will miss the game.

Firstly, left-back Brad Smith will not travel with the squad after injuring himself during the 2-1 FA Cup defeat to West Ham. The Australian international thought he had cramp at the time, but it turns out the injury was more significant.

Twitter: Klopp: “It was perfect moment for us to take them (the youngsters) off the leash.” Brad Smith has a injury problem “bit worse than cramp” (@JamesPearceEcho)

Another player who’ll miss the trip is Joe Allen, who had started to show some good form in recent weeks.

Twitter: Joe Allen is out for a while. (@JamesPearceEcho)

Dejan Lovren will also miss the tie against the league’s bottom side with a muscle injury suffered against Sunderland last weekend.

Twitter: Klopp: “Lovren not back for Aston Villa but hopefully for the next game. He has a strange feeling in the muscle.” (@JamesPearceEcho)

There was some good news, however, despite youngster Jordan Rossiter still being out, defender Steven Caulker is fit again after missing the West Ham game with a back injury.

Twitter: Klopp: “Caulker had a back problem. But yesterday he trained normal. Rossiter still not back in team training.” (@JamesPearceEcho

Finally, there was more good news as Klopp said that both Divock Origi and Daniel Sturridge came through the West Ham game without any ill-effects, but the manager acknowledged that he needs to manage the workloads of the forwards.