Salah return hands Liverpool early Champions League boost

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah trained with his team-mates on Tuesday ahead of the Champions League clash at Genk on Wednesday night. Egypt international Salah missed Sunday’s 1-1 draw against rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford after failing to fully recover from the ankle knock he sustained in the 2-1 victory over Leicester City prior to the international break.
The Reds are still top of the Premer League, unbeaten from nine matches, but their eight-point lead has been cut to six after defending champions Manchester City picked up a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday evening.
Salah’s absence was felt by the Merseysider’s, who lacked that little bit of creative edge, and there were doubts as to whether he would be available for the Champions League trip to Genk on Wednesday as the holders look to pick up an important victory.
However, the 27-year-old was present at Melwood on Tuesday as Jurgen Klopp chose to train on home soil ahead of their short, late afternoon flight to Belgium and the former Chelsea forward is expected to start the Group E tie at the Luminus Arena, alongside Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.
There is a chance that Klopp could use this game to make changes with one eye on Sunday’s home clash against Tottenham Hotspur, opening up the possibility for Joe Gomez to replace fellow England international Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back.
The midfield trio of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and Adam Lallana, who scored the equaliser against the Red Devils, are also pushing for starts. Defender Joel Matip could be a potential doubt for the game after he missed Tuesday’s opening training session.
Liverpool are sitting second in Group E, one point behind leaders Napoli and level on points with third-place Salzburg.
Genk, who will be without goalkeeper Danny Vukovic due to an Achilles injury and left-back Neto Borges, have taken just one point from two matches but a victory would put them right back in contention to qualify for the knockout stages.