Lallana & Shaqiri need to shine in Liverpool's injury nightmare

By Josh Challies

The international break has not been kind to Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool, who have suffered numerous injury setbacks during the past week and a half.

Naby Keita, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Virgil Van Dijk have all encountered problems while on duty for their respective nations and, as a result, could miss Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Huddersfield this weekend.

The Reds are rather fortunate that the injuries happened in October rather than one month ago, as an inviting run of fixtures sees the title hopefuls clash with the Terriers, Red Star Belgrade (twice), Cardiff City and Fulham over the course of the coming weeks – with the only real ‘big’ match coming against Arsenal.

 (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)

That means that rotation was always going to be likely and, in the potential absence of Keita and Mane in particular, Adam Lallana and Xherdan Shaqiri have been handed the opportunity to shine in the first-team.

Lallana, only recently returning from an injury of his own, has played just three minutes of Premier League football this season and, following a summer where the Reds brought in Keita and Fabinho, the 30-year-old faces a tough challenge to prove his worth once again.

Meanwhile, Shaqiri, by his own admission, has endured a tough start to life at Anfield but the upcoming fixtures give him a chance to find his feet with Klopp’s men ahead of the busiest stage of the season.