Trent Alexander-Arnold was not pressured to return too soon from injury ~ Jurgen Klopp

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp claims Trent Alexander-Arnold was not pressured to return from injury too soon, despite being sidelined for the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea on February 25.

Alexander-Arnold just returned to action after missing three weeks due to a knee injury.

He worsened the problem during a 3-1 victory against Burnley last Saturday, when he was substituted at halftime.

"As long as I am here, we never forced anybody back and will never do," Klopp went on to say.

"One thing we need to clarify a little. I wasn't aware of it, but I learned that there had been a talk about forcing Trent back due to two setbacks.

"Nobody wants it, and no one is doing it.

"But we work in a high-performance environment. We always strive to capture the earliest possible moment [when someone is hurt]. Unfortunately, when we capture that early moment, no one speaks about it.

"The last decision is always with the player, but if you always listen to the player, they would play after two weeks and it's a real problem."

Alexander-Arnold suffered a knee injury during the FA Cup third-round win at Arsenal on January 7 and returned as a substitute in the fourth-round win over Norwich City on January 28.

He also appeared as a substitute in a home win against Chelsea before starting in a setback at Arsenal on February 4, when he was replaced after nearly an hour.

The England international also started against Burnley, but was substituted at halftime due to a knee injury.

Reds midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai is also out with a recurrence of a hamstring problem.

"Very unlucky and unfortunate, but it can happen," said Klopp, speaking ahead of his team's clash at Brentford on Saturday (12:30 GMT)

Mohamed Salah, who sustained a hamstring injury playing for Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations on 18 January, is in contention to play against Brentford after returning to full training.

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