Thiago Alcantara trains with Liverpool but Jurgen Klopp in no hurry - in pictures

Manager expects midfielder to star full training by next week

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  Thiago Alcantara of Liverpool during a training session at AXA Training Centre in Kirkby on Friday. Getty

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  Takumi Minamino during Liverpool's training session at AXA Training Centre in Kirkby. Getty

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  Nathaniel Phillips during training in Kirkby. Getty

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  Owen Beck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain train at the AXA Training Centre. Getty

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  Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Neco Williams train in Kirkby. Getty

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  Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain train on Friday. Getty

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  Joel Matip trains with his Liverpool team-mates. Getty

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  Nathaniel Phillips at the AXA Training Centre. Getty

Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara could return to full training next week but manager Jurgen Klopp does not want to rush him back.

The Spain international played just one-and-a-half games after his September arrival from Bayern Munich before a knee injury against Everton in October sidelined him.

He has been pencilled in for a comeback in early January and Klopp said he remains on course for that.

"We already made jokes here that we should sign Thiago for January," Klopp said ahead of Saturday's trip to Crystal Palace. "He gets closer and closer and is in a good way but we will not rush it, we cannot rush it and he will not because he is not allowed to rush it.

"But of course it's nice having him on the pitch training, doing a lot of stuff, but he was not in team training yet and that is actually the final step.

"We will see how it is. We get [a look] at him on the pitch and then next week, can he be in team training? I don't know at the moment 100 per cent, a few tests he has to pass until we make that decision.

"Hopefully that is not only the case [for him[, with [James] Milner it will be similar, with Shaq [Xherdan Shaqiri] it will be similar."

Champions Liverpool sit top of the Premier League on 28 points despite having won just once away from home this season, a run that includes a lacklustre 1-1 draw at Fulham last weekend.

Klopp, however, said he is not worried by his side's form on the road.

"It's not that much of a concern, or at least we didn't feel it," he said.

"We were slightly unlucky as well in one or two games, I'd say. It's a fact we didn't win a lot away from home but we try to change that by doing the right things again."