LONDON – Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet says the return of key players Sadio Mané, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana will give the club a lift as they recover from a shaky spell in the Premier League.
Mané played more most of Sunday’s 4-1 win over West Ham, his first appearance in a month after a hamstring injury, while Lallana is due to play a behind-closed-doors friendly next week as he steps up his preparation for his first game of the season after a thigh problem.
Coutinho has joined up with the Brazil squad, despite an adductor problem forcing him to miss the club’s last three matches, and Mignolet is looking forward to seeing the trio all out on the pitch together again.
“I think we’ve been a bit unfortunate with the injuries and the suspensions,” he told liverpoolfc.com.
“If you have three of those kinds of players injured at the same time, then it’s obviously a tough thing to deal with, but at the same time, the squad’s stayed calm underneath it.
“Hopefully after the international break, they will be pushing the rest of the squad forward by adding in the goals and giving us a bigger platform to go from.”
Liverpool are fifth in the Premier League, just four points behind second-placed Manchester United, unbeaten in Europe and just one win away from qualification for the Champions League knockout stage.
They have won their past three games in all competitions convincingly, scoring 10 goals with just one conceded, recovering well after a damaging 4-1 defeat at the hands of Tottenham last month.
But having Mané, Coutinho and Lallana back in the fold would be a major boost for manager Jurgen Klopp as he seeks to manage his squad during a period in which the Reds play 13 games in 45 days, including eight in 29 days during December.
“If you get players like them coming back and being fresh after not playing much recently, that can give not only a boost to the team, but also a boost to them individually,” said Mignolet.
“They will be raring to go and very eager to get on the pitch and score the goals they’ve wanted to because they’ve been missing out, and I’m sure they will be ready for any battle that comes ahead of them when we come back after the international break.”