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Liverpool: Striker in fitness race

With the rumors played down, the move seems highly unlikely and can only benefit the player himself as Toronto FC are not going to let go of their star player after one season. The Hammers have scored four league goals and Spurs three in time added on for stoppages, with no other team doing so more than twice, so both look capable of threatening until the last whistle.

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“I don’t care about this”.

Can, who met with Liverpool fans in the city centre on Thursday before resuming first-team training, came on as a substitute in Germany’s friendly with France as the Stade de France was attacked.

“They are pretty good”.

If Juergen Klopp’s team can prove that they have already found the means to cope without Sterling’s invention and wizardry, it will be the biggest slap in his face. “Now they are here, back at home”.

Fabian Delph and Pablo Zabaleta are also back, whilst Aguero could lead the line in the absence of Wilfried Bony, who is likely to miss out with a hamstring issue – as is Samir Nasri, who will be out until February with a similar problem. We will be prepared. We only had eight players here [during global break]. He has five years contract and everyone wants to see him more on the pitch.

“He played here for a long time”.

They’ve conceded in the final ten minutes in two of their last three and need to hope the two-week worldwide break means they will be firing on all cylinders on Saturday.

It has been nearly a fortnight since Liverpool’s last competitive game, a 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace, with the Reds boosted with the return of James Milner to full fitness. His agent Aidy Ward also angered the club by saying the England winger would not sign a new deal at Anfield, even for £900,000 a week.

The ability to extract an extremely high work-rate out of players such as Adam Lallana is evidence of the German’s powers of persuasion.

“He’s as fit as he can be after his long break”, Klopp said.

“The best explanation is what I told the players in our first meeting – I am their friend, but not their best friend”, Klopp said. “It was good. I enjoyed the time together and we spoke about many things but if there is something to say about this it will be Stevie”, he said. He’s a good lad.

He was asked to compare the crop of midfielders he had at Dortmund with the ones he inherited at Liverpool and whether Philippe Coutinho was up there alongside a few of the world-class talent he had managed.

Unsurprisingly, he declined – in the nicest possible way. It’s not what I think about it. He played here and I have not heard a bad word about him.

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There were promising bulletins, too, on Mamadou Sakho and captain Jordan Henderson, who has not featured since breaking a bone in his foot in September.

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