Philippe Coutinho is unlikely to be back for Liverpool's Premier League clash with Man City on New Year's Eve.
The Brazilian playmaker was hoping to be fit for the crunch game after a speedy recovery from an ankle injury picked up in the Sunderland game, but it looks like he won't be risked.
"Unfortunately we don't have him back in training. He has his own training," said manager Jurgen Klopp in the pre-Stoke press conference. "We cannot rush the situation, we have to accept the previous steps in his improvement. We need to wait and cannot rush it.
"The City game for example, this will be really unlikely but at this moment it is not more likely than before, but I don't want to say its not possible, so we will see."