Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa are both in contention to being involved in Liverpool’s Premier League fixture against Fulham.
The attackers will both be assessed in the final training session before a decision is made on whether they will be involved in the squad.
Jota has been absent since picking up a rib injury against Chelsea at the start of October, while Chiesa has not played since the Carabao Cup third round victory over West Ham United on September 27, due to being hampered by injury, fitness and most recently illness.
“I think they are,” Slot told reporters at the pre-match press conference. “We have one training session to go.
“Federico missed quite a lot for a long time. He was ill last week so we have to wait and see how he’s exactly doing, but maybe Diogo is in the squad and maybe Federico as well but that depends a bit on the numbers we have and also how he recovered from his illness.”
It has been a difficult period for Chiesa since arriving towards the end of the summer transfer window from Juventus for £10.2million.
A lack of pre-season with Juventus, where he was training away from the senior team at a low intensity, has meant work has had to be done to try and increase those fitness levels to adapt to a high intensity playing style in a high intensity league.
Chiesa is back in full training, but having not played for over two months — and with Liverpool set for an intense Christmas period with every game important as they fight on four fronts, building a player’s match fitness is not easy.
Southampton in the Carabao Cup quarter-final offers one of those opportunities with Slot expected to rotate for that game as he has done in the previous two rounds of the competition.
“What makes it difficult is that we play so many games,” said Slot. “What he needs is playing time and the problem is if you haven’t played for five or six months, it’s sometimes difficult for a manager to give him his first minutes because you don’t exactly know what you can expect.
“I see him on the training ground but ideally you see him in a friendly during the week or you see him in an under-21 game but that is not the situation we have. We play so many games, so maybe the Southampton game might be a good moment for him to get some playing minutes and then we know a bit better what we can expect from him.
“We see his qualities, we know his qualities, but he needs to get his fitness level. If you only have training sessions, that is not the same as playing time. You need to have playing time to reach certain fitness levels but if you are competing for the league and the Champions League is not always easy to find these minutes unless we are sometimes four or five nil up, but for the whole season, it was only once against Bournemouth at home, 3-0 up at half time. For the rest it has been a struggle or a fight until the last second of every game.”
‘Light at the end of the tunnel for Chiesa’
Analysis by Liverpool correspondent Andy Jones
The return of Jota and Chiesa will be helpful to Slot as it will provide him with more attacking options. With both out, he has had to carefully rotate the quartet of Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez.
It does feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel for Chiesa in what will have been a difficult few months for the Italy international, as he has been unable to showcase his talent because of his lack of availability.
Expectations should be managed with the 26-year-old’s return. It is unlikely he will hit the ground running immediately but that should be expected for a player who has made one senior start since the end of June when he played for Italy in the European Championship.
Southampton, as referenced above, provides the ideal opportunity to give Chiesa game time and the FA Cup third round against Accrington Stanley on January 11 is another.
Between that, Liverpool will play four league games against Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City, West Ham and Manchester United. If Slot’s side do not put themselves in a dominant position in any of those games, then the head coach may be reluctant to use Chiesa, preferring other options who have been featuring more regularly.
It is a similar situation to the position Harvey Elliott currently finds himself in. The 21-year-old missed over three months with a fractured foot and has been handed two minor cameos in recent games against Manchester City and Girona coming on in the 89th and 76th minute respectively.
The positive news is Chiesa is closing in on being part of Slot’s squad providing he avoids further setbacks — and that only enhances Liverpool’s attacking options ahead of the second half of the season.
(Top photo: Jess Hornby/Getty Images)
