Virgil van Dijk will return from his head injury to face Arsenal in the Community Shield on Saturday, and Trent Alexander-Arnold also might play.

Liverpool's English defender Trent Alexander-Arnold is seen during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Chelsea at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on July 22, 2020. (Photo by PHIL NOBLE / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by PHIL NOBLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Liverpool’s English defender Trent Alexander-Arnold on July 22, 2020. (Photo by PHIL NOBLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Speaking to the media in his pre-match press conference on Friday, Jurgen Klopp gave an update on Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold for the Community Shield match against Arsenal.

Van Dijk picked up a head injury during the friendly in midweek, whilst Alexander-Arnold hasn’t featured in Liverpool’s brief pre-season so far. However, Klopp expects at least one of them back in the team tomorrow.

“Virgil looks fine, he looks not good because he has the cut there, but apart from that it should be fine,” Klopp said. “Trent, very close, we have to make a decision about tomorrow.

“All the boys which were not involved so far or got slight knocks in pre-season will not be available for tomorrow, but [are] getting closer.”

That list of unavailable players includes the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jordan Henderson, Joel Matip, Xherdan Shaqiri and Harry Wilson.

From Liverpool’s usual starting lineup, Alisson, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson, Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Keita, Mane, Firmino and Salah should all be ready. So it’s really only Henderson and possibly Alexander-Arnold missing.

That’s in fairly stark contrast to Arsenal, where it’s really going to be a makeshift side. From the cup-final team, the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Nicolas Pepe, David Luiz, Emi Martinez and Dani Ceballos will probably drop out.

The addition of William Saliba will help, of course. Bernd Leno is also back from injury. But the circumstances aren’t ideal for Saturday’s shot at silverware.