LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Alexis Mac Allister will be in Liverpool's squad for Sunday's Community Shield match against Crystal Palace.
The Argentina international missed some of Liverpool's preseason preparations when recovering from injury. But he played in the last two friendlies against Yokohama F. Marinos and Atletico Madrid and will be in contention to play some part of the game against Palace at Wembley, coach Arne Slot said.
“He was out for two months I think, or longer because we didn’t play him in the last four games of the season. He trained with us since a week now, played 30 minutes, 45 minutes," Slot said Friday. “So that’s not a situation where you would start a player... play him for 90 minutes. Starting is possible but definitely not for 90 minutes.”
The 26-year-old Mac Allister's last competitive game was against Arsenal on May 11. He missed the Premier League champion's last two games of the season.
Last month the midfielder said his absence was due to a series of issues, rather than one specific injury.
“It’s hard to explain because it’s not just one spot that you say, ‘OK, we have to focus on this,’” Mac Allister said. "It’s like two or three different things that I’ve been struggling (with) for a couple of months.
“At the end, we found the solution; we have been working a lot in the gym, on my structure."
Liverpool defender Joe Gomez has been ruled out of the match with a “minor” injury, Slot said.
___
James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
The Associated Press
