Liverpool players that will be back by next Premier League game and their performance at Afcon

When will the trio be back?

The international break is now upon us. Liverpool's next game is against Cardiff City in the FA Cup on February 6, just a day before the final of the African Cup of Nations.

Since it's an FA Cup 4th round game against a lower league opponent, it's unlikely that the trio of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita would have played in it anyway.

Regardless, it's very likely that at least two of these stars will be back by that game and in the worst-case scenario for Liverpool, all of them will be back by the time our next Premier League game (February 10 against Leicester) takes place.

Liverpool's results in their absence

So, how did the Reds perform in the absence of these stars? Let's take a look:

vs Shrewsbury Town (FA Cup 3rd round) - 4-1 win

vs Arsenal (1st leg of League Cup semi-final) - 0-0 draw

vs Brentford - 3-0 win

vs Arsenal (2nd leg of semi-final) - 0-2 win

vs Crystal Palace - 1-3 win

That's four wins and one draw in five matches - the draw is irrelevant anyway considering we ended up advancing to the final.

That is a terrific run of games in the absence of our best player, Salah, and two very valuable Reds in Mane and Keita.

The rocky road that fans anticipated wasn't so tough after all and we need to give Jurgen Klopp and the squad proper credit for that.

Source: Tribuna.com