‘Available to start’ – Klopp gives encouraging update on Van Dijk and Gomez fitness

Jurgen Klopp has provided an encouraging update on the fitness of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez and says both players are ‘available to start’ against Norwich this weekend.

Liverpool begin their Premier League campaign with a trip to face the newly-promoted Canaries at Carrow Road on Saturday evening, as the Reds look to make a strong start and challenge for the title once again.

Klopp’s options have been boosted by the return to fitness of centre-back duo Van Dijk and Gomez, with both players having missed the majority of last season after sustaining serious knee injuries.

Liverpool are expected to take a patient approach with both players following significant periods on the sidelines, though Klopp has revealed that both players are in contention to feature after progressing well during pre-season.

“I think so, it looks like [they are available to start]. But how it is with these kind of things, we have nothing to rush in this department,” Klopp told the official club website.

“We just have to make then a decision on who will start, who will come on, things like this and if I think they are ready for 90 minutes then they are ready to start.

“If I think we have to take them off earlier then it makes no sense because centre-half is not actually a position where you want to change during a game and so we will see.

“But both look really good. An intense season is coming up. We will see how we decide that.”

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