Curtis Jones is fit to feature against Everton on Wednesday evening after he was unable to take part in the FA Cup defeat over the weekend.
Liverpool’s No. 17 was to start at Home Park on Sunday but instead was an unused substitute as Arne Slot explained that the midfielder told him he wasn’t “fully recovered yet.”
Instead, Trey Nyoni, Wataru Endo and Harvey Elliott started in midfield and 18-year-old Trent Kone-Doherty was turned to off the bench instead of the Reds’ most senior substitute.
Jones, however, was involved in training on the eve of the trip to Goodison Park and Slot has deemed the 24-year-old available for the Premier League clash.
“Yeah [he will be available],” Slot told reporters, including the Echo, after his Tuesday press conference.
“He was out for 10, 12 days and he played a game at home against Tottenham. His recovery took a bit longer than expected.”
Jones missed two games after being forced off at half-time against Lille in the Champions League with what he revealed was “a small injury on the MCL,” which is a ligament in the knee.
He returned off the bench at Bournemouth before playing 72 minutes against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg, with the three-day turnaround then proving too much.
A place on the bench will be expected at Goodison on Wednesday, however, with Slot likely to turn to his most-used midfield trio in Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister.
The Reds could also have Trent Alexander-Arnold to call on for the Merseyside derby after the vice-captain took part in training after missing the last two games with a thigh issue.
Neither Joe Gomez nor Tyler Morton were with the group on Tuesday as they nurse hamstring and shoulder injuries respectively.
Darwin Nunez, meanwhile, was not spotted in the club’s footage or photos and there could be a question mark over him after his partner gave birth to their second child in Spain last week.
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