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.

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.

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,