Liverpool sweating on fitness of key man ahead of Premier League opening fixture

Liverpool start the 2022-23 season against Fulham but Diogo Jota may not be available.
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Liverpool are sweating on the fitness of Diogo Jota ahead of the start of the 2022-23 Premier League season.

The forward suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury during the Reds’ tour of the Far East.

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Jota first sustained his setback on international duty with Portugal last month - and was forced to sit out Liverpool’s friendlies against Manchester United and Crystal Palace.

Jurgen Klopp’s side step up their pre-season regime this week when they play RB Leipzig on Thursday before travelling to Austra for a training camp.

Liverpool then meet Manchester City in the Community Shield on Saturday 30 July before the competitive campaign gets underway with a trip to newly-promoted Fulham a week later.

Jota, who scored 21 goals last season, has been ruled out of the Reds’ clash against City.

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But Klopp is hopeful Alisson Becker, who has an abdominal injury and missed the Palace game, will be available.

Speaking to the club website, Klopp said: “Ali, I think, has the chance for City and Diogo not.

“Ali, he feels a muscle, abdominal. It’s nothing serious but, again, we prepare for a full season.

“So he can train but just not like before, so he should not play in the moment. Not normal goalie training but he has a pre-season, so he doesn’t lose time.

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“But yeah, these kind of things happen. The boys have to travel a lot and train and you never know exactly.

“It’s only little things, nothing serious but we have to be careful because the rest of the season is much longer than the start.”