Liverpool name Oxlade-Chamberlain for first time in a year as England ace continues comeback

ALEX OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN is back in the Liverpool squad to face Huddersfield tonight - a year and two days after his knee injury against Roma.

The England midfielder, 25, has gradually stepped up training in the last two months, also featuring in two Under-23 games.

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Now the ex-Arsenal star has joined the Reds' bid to overhaul Manchester City and lift their first top-flight crown for 29 years.

The Ox was named on the bench tonight - whilst Daniel Sturridge was called into the starting line-up, alongside Sadio Mane and Mo Salah. up front.

Oxlade-Chamberlain damaged cruciate and medial ligaments, plus hamstring tendons, during Liverpool's 5-2 Champions League semi-final first-leg win at Anfield last April.

But he asked club staff to keep the seriousness of his injury from team-mates, so as not to distract them.

And apart from missing the 3-1 final defeat against Real Madrid in May, Oxlade-Chamberlain also sat out the other half of what surely would have been a golden summer for him - the World Cup finals in Russia, where the Three Lions reached the last four.

The Ox resumed training early this year before his comeback was ramped up in March.

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Jurgen Klopp said at the time: “He has been training with the first-team squad for several weeks – 70 per cent of team training then he leaves a bit early to do something else and the things he needs."

A full year, though, was the length of time predicted for the Ox to return.

And with a bench spot at home to the relegated Terriers tonight, he is right on course.

LIVERPOOL: Alisson, Alexander, Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson, Wijnaldum, Henderson, Keita, Mane, Salah, Sturridge. Subs: Mignolet, Milner, Gomez, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Shaqiri, Origi, Matip,

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