Even though Liverpool are enduring a bit of an injury crisis going into this weekends meeting with Aston Villa, it’s not all doom and gloom on Merseyside with Reds boss Brendan Rodgers confirming that Adam Lallana is in contention for a starting spot on Saturday.
The £25mil man missed much of pre-season, as well as the Anfield outfits opening three matches of the season, after injuring his knee during their tour of North America. It’s taken a while, but he’s back in training and the boss thinks he’s finally ready to make his debut in the famous red shirt. “He’s looked very good. He is obviously short of match fitness, but the only way he is going to get that is by playing” the Northern Irishman told the clubs official website. “He featured in the game we had here at Melwood against Wolves behind closed doors, scored the winning goal and did very well. In training he’s worked very, very hard.”
With confirmation coming from the club yesterday that Daniel Sturridge will miss three weeks after picking up a thigh injury while on international duty, Rodgers will be looking to other players in the squad to step up in the striker’s absence. Although Mario Balotelli will likely bear much of this responsibility, Lallana is no slouch in front of net either, but the Northern Irishman has cautioned that it will take time for him to re-discover his feet.
“It’s just about him getting the minutes and the game time, and we’ll look forward to introducing him back to that over the next couple of weeks” he continued before saying what great support Lallana, as well as Liverpool’s other summer signings, will get from the Reds faithful. “It’ll be brilliant for them. It’ll be great for them to sample the support and playing in that cauldron of Anfield. It’s a special place to play football – it certainly is to manage. I know the players are looking forward to that.”
