Jurgen Klopp positive of Sadio Mane ahead  Arsenal clash, Saturday

Mane picked up a rib injury while on international duty with Senegal but returned to  training in Merseyside this week ahead of their crunch match with the Gunners on Saturday.

Klopp admitted that Mane’s injury was ‘painful’ for the forward but claimed the Senegalese winger only needed to be taken out of small sections of training.

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‘Sadio is fine – painful but fine,’ Klopp told the Liverpool official website. ‘Everybody who had a rib bruise knows it’s an annoying thing. But Sad trained here with us now in all sessions.

‘We took him out a little bit earlier here and there when we knew now it will be full contact, stuff like this, just to give it a bit more time to settle. But he looks fine.’

Mane has been a key player for Liverpool this season, scoring eight goals in 15 matches in all competitions, and will be a crucial component in the Liverpool starting line-up for the visit of in-form Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta’s Gunners have not lost in the Premier League since the end of August and could overtake the Reds into the top four with a victory at Anfield.

Liverpool’s preparations for the Arsenal clash have been hampered by injury scares to left-back Robertson and midfielder Henderson, who turned out for Scotland and England respectively in the international break just gone.

Robertson picked up a hamstring tweak during Scotland’s victory over Denmark and came off with ten minutes to go in the World Cup qualifier, while Henderson pulled himself out of England’s clash in San Marino due to a series of injury issues.

Klopp has confirmed that Robertson’s injury was simply delayed onset muscle soreness and while Henderson is a ‘little bit more’ injured than the left-back, both players have a chance of turning out against Arsenal on Saturday. (AF)