2022-2023 PL: Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Liverpool

(The Guardian) Jürgen Klopp has given an injury update on some of his Liverpool players ahead of the trip to Brighton on Saturday. Striker Darwin Nunez missed training yesterday so does he play?

“If he cannot train today [Friday] then, yes, that would rule him out,” Klopp told his pre-match press conference on Friday morning. “We are waiting for the latest information; it is not a major one, but it still kept him out of training. We have to wait for that.”

Klopp also gave updates on James Milner, Stefan Bajcetic and Roberto Firmino. “Millie, yesterday, did big parts of training and will be back in normal training today. Bobby not. Stefan will be back in training today. He was out, he got a knock on the hip bone, which is quite uncomfortable, but he will back as well and that’s it pretty much.”

Firmino has been missing since the domestic season resumed following the World Cup break. Klopp added: “In the first moment, it was like a little injury where the estimate [was] 10 days, two weeks. He did the normal rehab stuff, all the experts told us what we can do - and then Bobby felt again something and that kept him out then for longer. I don’t know exactly when he will be back, but he’s not close to team training, no.”

(The Guardian) Jürgen Klopp seemed to have the grumps in his Liverpool press conference and Everton boss Frank Lampard hardly seemed fully of joy either when talking to the gathered journos today. The Toffees only just escaped relegation last season and Lampard admitted that losing leading scorer Richarlison to Tottenham left him feeling that Everton would find it hard to improve their eventual finishing position of 16th. He’s not wrong there. Everton are currently 18th.

“The start [to the season] was going to be tough but it was where we are building and for us that probably meant staying where we are in the league and that may be the reality,” said Lampard. “I don’t mean to sound negative. Once Richarlison moved, it’s hard to replace him, a unique player, Brazil’s number nine.

“We lost a couple of players, Delphy (Fabian Delph), (Donny) Van de Beek, Dele (Alli) moved on and some were my choice to improve the midfield. We have to work within our budget, I have to get to work myself, improve as much as we possibly can, it’s a note of realism. I’m not saying that on my own, Evertonians know where we are. We want to get back to where we want to be. That was my feeling just being honest about it.”