Naby Keita back in training – Should he start for Liverpool against Bournemouth

Not often does the script get written out that Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool need to bounce back from successive defeats. With Naby Keita back in training should he be the one to get them back to winning ways?

Chelsea and Watford join Atletico Madrid and Napoli as the only clubs to beat Liverpool this season. The two formerly mentioned came directly after the loss of captain Jordan Henderson. The loss was great and noticeably straight after the Champions League defeat in the first round.

It became clearer and clearer, the Reds were nowhere to be found without their skipper. After a long spell of supreme dominance at the back and in front, they finally broke down and fell apart in quick succession. Going over 40 games unbeaten, as well as going on a run where they collected seven consecutive clean sheets, plus matching Man City’s 18 straight victories in one season, all came to an abrupt halt.

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But this (what you would consider a difficult patch for Liverpool) is all behind them now, a record in the books, something to look back on as they now get mentioned with some of the greatest teams to ever grace England’s Top Flight.

What comes next will decide if they were born to be champions or was last season’s Champions League run a fluke and are their days of thunder behind them and this Liverpool side is finally showing fatigue?

The bounce-back – Naby must stay fit

Bournemouth is the first step on the road to recovery for Jurgen Klopp and his men. He will have to survive this Cherries’ test without the service of Jordan Henderson, who’s preparations are meant for a Champions League comeback and not an EPL return.

Thankfully, Naby Keita has been cleared and is able to feature for the Reds come the first game of Saturday Matchday 29 of the Premier League. But the real question is will Klopp use him after his poor display in the West Ham victory, a couple of weeks back?

He was taken off the pitch and replaced with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 57th minute of the game. This leaves Klopp with some big decisions to be made before Saturday during a time they must show resilience and bounce back to winning ways.

Having not scored in both fixtures gives the impression Liverpool need to get a creative spark going in the middle of the pitch, and Naby is that man. He is the man because he adds a different dynamic to their attacking threat.

At the time of posting this article, news broke of Naby Keita’s family member and the team’s coach being involved in a fatal crash. Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the accident.