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Liverpool's title charge could receive a massive boost with an early March return of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The midfielder was not due to play at all this season after snapping knee ligaments in the Champions League semi-final win over Roma last April.

Yet his rehabilitation has gone so well, he is now back training on grass and doing ball work, with manager Jurgen Klopp confirming he would be ready before the end of the campaign.

Sources within the club though, suggest Oxlade-Chamberlain is well ahead of even that schedule and, if there are no setbacks on his fitness programme, he should be able to return to full training by mid-February.

(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty)

And with the player already doing full fitness work, that would give him a chance of being involved in the first team squad in early to mid-March.

Liverpool will refuse to push him of course, and will take every precaution to ensure the knee is 100% right to avoid any further injury. But his return would offer a huge lift as the Reds go head to head with Manchester City on the Premier League run-in.

The England midfielder was one of the key figures in Liverpool's form in the second half of last season and their run to the Champions League Final. His relationship in providing assists for Mo Salah offered a real threat, and his scoring from midfield was a key weapon the Reds used to break down sides.

(Image: Reuters)

The player himself is desperate to return to play a part this season, as the Reds look to end their 29-year wait for the title.

Klopp hinted at an earlier return last week, when he appeared to want to place it on record that the player could be back by March, but then held back by saying: “He is close, very close. And in a really good way.

“That will still take a couple of... last time I put a bit of pressure on the medical department. But when I see him moving the ball and what he's doing already it looks really good, promising, close to return.”