Liverpool are facing the dreaded Saturday lunchtime kick-off this weekend as they travel to Crystal Palace.
The Reds have a very good record at Selhurst Park over recent times but will be wary of being undercooked after a taxing game against Bologna in midweek.
Arne Slot decided to go strong for the Champions League tie at Anfield. Minus Darwin Nunez, it was clearly Liverpool’s best XI right now.
As a result, the Liverpool head coach may be set to rotate a few players for the Premier League game against Palace.
Not everyone looks set to be available, however. Harvey Elliott is still a couple of weeks away from fitness, while Federico Chiesa missed the clash with Bologna after picking up a knock.
And while previewing the Palace match for the gathered press on Friday morning, Slot gave an update on whether he’s expecting Chiesa to be ready for Saturday’s game.
Arne Slot gives Federico Chiesa update
The main worry when Liverpool signed Chiesa in August was that his fitness would not hold up.
The Italian has a slightly patchy injury record over the past few seasons but was seen as being well worth the risk at just over £12m.
Given his history of problems, Liverpool have chosen to bed Chiesa in slowly so far.
Nevertheless, the 26-year-old still picked up a little knock after starting his first game of the season against West Ham in the Carabao Cup.
After Chiesa had virtually no pre-season with Juventus, that perhaps shouldn’t have been a surprise
Regardless, Liverpool fans are keen to see their new signing again after a promising start to his life at Anfield. But asked whether Chiesa would feature at Palace, Slot admitted that he is still waiting to see if the winger will train on Friday.
“Wait and see, he didn’t train for the last two days,” said the Dutchman. “He came in today to see if he could train and if he can I still have a decision to make because we can only pick 20 and he hasn’t trained for a few days.
“But first of all we have to wait and see if he can even train and if he can then it’s my decision.”
Federico Chiesa unlikely to feature
Reading between the lines, this makes it feel unlikely that Chiesa will be in the squad which travels down to London.
Although Slot says there is still a chance he is ready to train today, there are other players who will still be more ready than the Italy international.
In any case, if Chiesa is not fully fit, it makes more sense to leave him back on Merseyside to get up to his best level again.
With another international break to come it is disappointing that we still have not seen too much of Liverpool’s only summer signing.
But with a little rest over the next two weeks he should hopefully be raring to go for what is a tough period coming up for Liverpool.
