Fabinho gives injury update and says he’s ‘working hard’ ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Man City

The Brazilian has been filling in at centre-back for much of the season

Liverpool’s Brazilian midfielder Fabinho has played mostly in defence this season (Getty Images)

Liverpool's defensive midfielder Fabinho says he's on the path to a return to fitness, but stopped short of confirming he'd return in time for the Reds' crunch game against Manchester City at the weekend.

With all three of the senior centre-backs at the club out injured for the season, Fabinho has found himself pressed into action as an emergency defender for much of the time. However, he also picked up his own issue in training recently and has since missed three games: wins over Spurs and West Ham and the midweek defeat to Brighton.

Jurgen Klopp's side made moves to fill the void in the squad by signing Ben Davies from Preston and loaning Ozan Kabak from Schalke, but neither were ready to play in that Anfield loss - and it would be a big call from the manager to give them a debut against the current league leaders.

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A return to full fitness for Fabinho would be most welcome, therefore, but the No. 3 explained that there's no timeline on his return as yet.

“I had a slight discomfort in training so we decided that I shouldn't play against Tottenham or West Ham," he told the club matchday programme.

“I started undergoing my recovery straightaway and I'm feeling a lot better than I was at the start of last week and hopefully I'll have the opportunity to come back for these games we have coming up.

“We're not exactly sure how long I will be out but I'm working hard to be back playing as soon as possible.”

In his press conference ahead of the weekend game, Klopp explained that Davies and Kabak had undergone an analysis session to explain the Reds' defensive approach and stated both could be in contention to feature against City.

The manager also revealed that Fabinho - along with forward Sadio Mane - would feature in "parts of team training" on Friday as they bid to prove their fitness for Sunday's game.

Goalkeeper Alisson was another who missed out against Brighton, this time through injury, but he is expected to be ready to face the league leaders.