Mohamed Salah is set to return for Liverpool on Friday when they face Aston Villa in the Premier League at Villa Park, after missing the past two matches with a muscle injury.
The forward will be back in the squad, and Arne Slot said he should be available for a few minutes at most as Liverpool ease him back in. The manager gave the update this morning in his pre-match press conference, offering a clearer picture of a side still juggling late fitness concerns before the trip to Villa Park.
That matters because Salah has been one of Liverpool’s most important players, and even a brief return changes the feel of a matchday squad. Slot’s exact assessment was that Salah “will be available tomorrow for only a few minutes, but hopefully can come in.”
Liverpool are also waiting on Ibrahima Konate, who is fit after being taken off in the second half against Chelsea last weekend. Slot said Konate “is OK, trained with us,” a welcome sign for a defence that has had little margin for error in recent weeks.
Alisson Becker remains less certain. The goalkeeper is being assessed after coming back to training, and Slot said he would see whether Alisson is ready immediately or has to wait another week. Florian Wirtz is also being assessed, leaving Liverpool with more than one decision to make before they line up against Aston Villa.
The broader picture is straightforward: Liverpool are trying to manage multiple fitness issues at once, with Salah’s return following the muscle injury that kept him out of the previous two matches. The timing is important because Friday’s fixture gives Slot little room to experiment, and the squad he names will tell a lot about how aggressively he wants to attack a difficult away game.
There is still a catch. Salah is back, but only in limited fashion, and Liverpool’s biggest names are not all on the same timetable. Alisson is still being monitored, Wirtz is not yet cleared, and the margin between a useful return and a rushed one remains thin. For now, Slot has enough to suggest Liverpool will travel with some optimism, but not enough to say the injury picture has fully settled.
