Liverpool’s Salah, Nunez in contention for League Cup final

[FILE] Liverpool’s German manager Jurgen Klopp (R) speaks with Liverpool’s Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah (L) during the English Premier League football. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)

Liverpool could be handed a major boost ahead of the League Cup final against Chelsea on Sunday, with Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai all in contention to play after injury problems.

All three sat out Wednesday’s 4-1 win over Luton as Liverpool moved four points clear at the top of the table despite missing nine first-team players.

Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Thiago Alcantara, Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota will not be available for the match at Wembley as Liverpool aim to win the first of a potential quadruple of trophies in Jurgen Klopp’s final season.

“Dom, Darwin and Mo we have to really see. We have two more days, today’s session and tomorrow’s session and last minute we will check if they can be there,” Klopp’s assistant Pep Lijnders told Friday’s pre-match press conference.

Liverpool hammered Chelsea 4-1 in the Premier League less than a month ago but Lijnders is wary of the Blues, due to the improvements they have made since then.

Chelsea are 10th in the Premier League table after a difficult start to Mauricio Pochettino’s reign but did Liverpool a favour in the title race by holding Manchester City to a 1-1 draw last week.

Lijnders believes the Argentine is beginning to find the right balance from a squad full of young talent that has cost more than £1 billion ($1.3 billion) in transfer fees over the past two years.

“We will need our full toolbox,” said Lijnders. “Chelsea, I think the instability that happened in the beginning of the season, a lot happened there — a lot.

“So how can you expect them to