Liverpool face an anxious wait to see if Alexis Mac Allister will be fit to face Newcastle on Monday but Jurgen Klopp suggested left-back Andy Robertson will miss the whole of January.
Mac Allister has sat out Liverpool’s last six matches with a knee injury and his return could be timely as the Newcastle match will be Wataru Endo’s last before he goes to the Asian Cup.
Robertson has not played since dislocating his shoulder on international duty with Scotland in October. He has undergone an operation and Klopp implied he will be out for both legs of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Fulham.
But the Scotland captain may be in a race against time to be fit for the Premier League clash against Arsenal on 4 February.
“Macca, we will see what he can do [on Friday], if he can step into team training or not,” Klopp said. “The decision is not done yet. It’s pretty early and the doctor is not here. Or maybe he is here but I didn’t see him yet. So, we will see.”
Liverpool are without both senior specialist left-backs, with Kostas Tsimikas suffering a broken collarbone in the 1-1 draw against Arsenal, but Robertson is some way off returning.
“Robbo still needs more range in his shoulder,” added Klopp. “It was a big surgery. [He is] still not even close to team training.
“He can do a lot, everything without using the arm properly, which is obviously good but on the other side shows us we still have a long way to go. For sure, I think, the full January he has to get closer and closer.”
Liverpool are still without midfielders Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic but Klopp said the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich player should be on the comeback trail soon.
“I think Thiago at one point will be in team training,” he added. “But we have to make sure we don’t use him too early.”
Newcastle will be Mohamed Salah’s last match before he goes to the African Cup of Nations.
While Eddie Howe’s team have lost eight of their last 12 games, Klopp expressed sympathy as he argued an injury crisis is the reason for their recent slump.
“Newcastle did incredibly well and were unlucky with the amount of injuries and on top of that they have international football, which they did not have 50 times in a row so you have to get used to that,” he said.
“Eddie had to play too often the same line-up definitely, that is clear, and the boys did incredibly well. Give credit to the players for the effort they put in but then the guys who play all the time get tired and the ones who come in have no rhythm.”
