Nathaniel Clyne is a doubt for Liverpool's Capital One Cup semifinal second leg at home to Stoke City on Tuesday, but Dejan Lovren is close to making a return to action after training with the team.
Clyne picked up a knee problem in Saturday's 5-4 win at Norwich City and Reds manager Jurgen Klopp told a news conference on Monday that the right-back may not be ready to face the Potters.
That could open the door to a first start in 20 months for Jon Flanagan, who began his long-awaited comeback after a serious knee injury last week with substitute appearances against Exeter City and Norwich.
Klopp, however, admitted that it was asking a lot for Flanagan to start on Tuesday.
"Clyney got a knock on the knee," Klopp said. "He is a really tough boy, he is always available. But I think today it will not work for training.
"We don't do too much, of course, but I think we should leave him out of training. We have to see what will happen overnight and make a decision but it's not too easy because then we have only Flanno.
"We all love Flanno but he had a long time [injured] and 90 minutes or more is maybe not the best thing. But if there's an opportunity we would like to try it. He is ready, but of course it would be better if Clyney got fit for tomorrow."
Liverpool centre-back Lovren, meanwhile, has recovered from the hamstring injury he picked up in the 1-0 win at Stoke in the semifinal first leg on Jan. 5.
With loan signing Steven Caulker cup-tied after featuring for Southampton in their 6-1 thrashing by Liverpool, he is out of the equation, meaning that Kolo Toure and Mamadou Sakho, who faced Norwich, may have to continue despite their own fitness issues this month.
"Dejan, after three weeks he trained yesterday -- a complete session with the team," Klopp said. "It was good, but after three weeks we have to see. If nothing happens in the next 24 hours with Kolo or Mama then I think we should do it again because Steven can't play.
"That's not too good -- you can buy players in January but if you're still in the cup you can't use them! That's nice."
Klopp added that he had no news on reported negotiations to sign attacking midfielder Alex Teixeira from Shakhtar Donetsk, saying: "To things like this there's absolutely nothing to say -- maybe this is a surprise to you. No, nothing to say to things like this."