OPINION
Liverpool could be facing their real selection headache when they travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.
The international break has not been friendly to the Reds, with the likes of Jordan Henderson, Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk all being forced to return to Anfield early.
With those names being withdrawn alongside Joel Matip also being sidelined, Jurgen Klopp only currently has Dejan Lovren as a confirmed option for the game against Palace.
The Evening Standard have reported that Andrew Robertson and Mohamed Salah are both being considered as major doubts for the trip to London.
The newspaper claim on their website that Gomez is the most likely to return for the Reds at Selhurst Park after the defender was one of the names to be withdrawn from international duty in the past couple of weeks.
After a disappointing few months at the beginning of the season, this is the opportunity that Gomez could have been screaming out for.
It is unknown whether or not van Dijk will be ready for Saturday’s game, with the reason behind his absence from Tuesday’s clash against Estonia being described as “personal circumstances” [The Mirror].
None of Liverpool’s injured players have been fully confirmed as absentees as of yet, the fact that Gomez has been described as the most likely to feature can only be good news for the 22-year-old.
Gomez has had to settle for chances in the Champions League so far this season but has still impressed. Against dangerous sides such as Napoli, the defender has averaged 4.3 aerial battles per game according to WhoScored – highlighting how he can dominate opposition attackers.
Palace have the ability to starting pumping long balls forward to the likes of Christian Benteke, and Gomez has proven that he can deal with that in his performances so far this season.
Gomez could certainly ease the blow of potentially losing van Dijk for Saturday’ clash after this injury update on Wednesday.
