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According to The Mirror, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will make his return from injury when Liverpool’s Under-23 side face their Derby County counterparts on Friday night.
What’s the latest?
Oxlade-Chamberlain has not played for Liverpool since suffering a severe knee injury in the Champions League clash with Roma last April.
The damage and subsequent surgery ruled the midfielder out of the Champions League final, whilst he also missed England’s run to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has stepped up his recovery over the last few weeks, though, and is expected to be available for the first team before the end of the campaign.
According to The Mirror, head coach Jurgen Klopp seriously considered allowing the Englishman to play some minutes against Everton Under-23s on Monday night.
However, the decision was taken to give the 25-year-old a little bit longer and as a result, he will play some part – potentially as long as an hour – against the Rams on Friday night.
When could he return for the first team?
A lot depends on how Oxlade-Chamberlain comes through his return match.
Klopp recently revealed that the 32-time England international was doing ‘70% of team training’, suggesting that he is not that close to featuring for the first team.
The fact that the former Southampton youngster was initially expected to miss the whole of this season means that Liverpool will, understandably, be very cautious.
The Reds have four more games this month, starting with Burnley in the league this weekend before visiting Bayern Munich in the Champions League next week.
Liverpool will then travel to Fulham and welcome Tottenham Hotspur either side of the international break.
The Merseyside giants will then open April away to Southampton, and it would be fitting if he made his return in that particular fixture.