Liverpool Freshness Could Prove Key in 2021/22 Season

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The 2020/21 Premier League season finished with Liverpool qualifying for the Champions League in fourth place. They failed to get anywhere near the heights of the previous campaign, thanks in part to the injuries suffered by key players.

First choice central defenders Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez missed much of the season due to injury and there were also spells on the side-line for captain, Jordan Henderson.

However, the upcoming season could be a different story and the good news for Liverpool fans is both van Dijk and Gomez have been named in the squad for a pre-season training camp. Van Dijk has not played any football since suffering an injury in the 2-2 draw with Everton on the 17th of October, whilst Gomez was injured on England duty in November and did not return to action.

Trent Alexander-Arnold is making progress in his recovery from a thigh injury and could be available for the first match of the Premier League season having been names in the training camp in Austria. New signing, Ibrahima Konate, has been included and the defender could make his Liverpool debut in their first friendly match ahead of the new season.

Jordan Henderson is currently on international duty with England but has returned to full fitness having missed the end of the last Premier League season. He should be fit and raring to go come the beginning of the new campaign.

There is also good news in the attacking department as both Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah have enjoyed time off this summer and will have a full pre-season under their belts come the beginning of the Premier League. There was a fear among Liverpool fans that Salah would be travelling to Japan to play for Egypt at the Olympic Games but Liverpool refused to release the player. A club can block a player from participating in non-FIFA-sanctioned international tournaments, meaning Liverpool are well within their rights to prevent Salah from travelling to Tokyo.

That means both Salah and Mané should be firing on all cylinders come the opening fixture of the 2021/22 Premier League season against Norwich City at Carrow Road. There is a good chance Liverpool will be at full strength for that match and Jürgen Klopp will want his team to make a fast start to the season.

With the same starting XI that performed so well in 2019/20, there is no reason why Liverpool will not be at the top of the table, competing for the title again. The fact Gomez, van Dijk, Salah, Mané, Alexander-Arnold, and Henderson will be fresh at the beginning of the season could prove crucial, especially as the key players of other clubs have been busy at the European Championship and Copa America.

Having these five players coming back after a long break could be the difference at the beginning of the season and see Liverpool open a gap at the top of the table. If they can do that, Liverpool will be difficult to catch but it will be interesting to see what happens when Salah and Mané travel for the Africa Cup of nations due to be staged in January and February.