Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Jon Flanagan has not been included in recent games because he is not yet fully fit.
The 23-year-old returned to action three months ago after 18 months on the sidelines with a knee injury, but has not featured in any of Liverpool's last five league matches.
Flanagan's last appearance was in the Reds' 3-2 defeat to Southampton on March 20.
"Flanno's situation is not too easy to explain," the Liverpool Echo quotes Klopp as saying. "He cannot train all the time and when you are out for such a long period you cannot build a base. That is all. It is a little bit similar, but a different story, to what I said about Daniel Sturridge.
"If we want to help him we need to work on his physical resistance so he is really ready for more than one game and does not need two or three days recovery. That is not how it should work. That is what we will try to do."
Flanagan signed a new three-year deal last month.