The return of Lucas on Saturday will be a major boost to a depleted first team squad
As the latest round of internationals finally – thankfully – comes to a close, we will all no doubt greet the return of weekend Premier League football with wide, open arms.
For Liverpool fans, it’s a weekend of either great joy or sorrow. There’ll be no middle ground, with the potential of losing 3 points to another Champions League rival likely to deal the Reds an almost deadly blow in their hopes of top-level European football next season.
With Martin Skrtel out, Steven Gerrard banned and Daniel Sturridge barely able to stay fully fit, Liverpool really appear to be up against it. But if there is one silver lining for LFC this weekend, it’s the return of Lucas Leiva to training in the past couple of weeks, and the fact that he’s likely to be in the squad (possibly even starting line-up) for the match on Saturday morning.
And speaking to Liverpoolfc.com, the Brazilian midfielder thinks he is now 100 per cent. He said: “I feel great.
“Leading up to the Manchester United game I had a full week of training as well, so it’s been two weeks of full training. I was available for the Manchester United game, but probably wasn’t able to play the whole game. Now I feel 100 per cent.
“Now it’s just a question of getting some minutes and training sessions, so that’s what I need and what I’m having. Leading into the Arsenal game that’s going to be good because I will have had three full weeks of training and I’m looking forward to it.”
While the team haven’t missed Lucas as much as it first seemed they would, it’s been clear in recent weeks that his mature and calming influence in midfield has been missing. None more so than against Manchester United, when Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen were played off the park for much of the match.
With one eye on the rest of the season, Lucas continued: “Of course it’s good to have a few days off but I was away in Brazil while I was having my treatment, so it was the right decision to stay here and keep working during the international break.
“If you get too many days off you don’t get the sharpness and the rythmn of the training session and that’s what I was missing.
“I spoke with the staff and they prepared everything for me as well to make me feel as though I’m in good condition, so it’s looking good and hopefully it will only get better.”
