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Joe Gomez of Liverpool(Image: Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images)

There could be a neat piece of symmetry at Anfield on Sunday.

And not just due to the return of former boss Jurgen Klopp.

Klopp is back in Merseyside this weekend and expected to make his first return to watch Liverpool at his old stomping ground for the final game of the season against Crystal Palace on Sunday, after which they will lift the Premier League trophy.

It seems wholly appropriate, then, that the game could also see the long-awaited comeback of the one player still at the club who was part of the Reds squad when Klopp was first appointed as successor to Brendan Rodgers in October 2015.

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Joe Gomez was on the bench at Brighton on Monday evening having been absent for all bar 11 minutes of action since suffering a hamstring injury at West Ham United on December 29 that he aggravated on his aborted comeback in the FA Cup defeat at Plymouth Argyle six weeks later.

While not quite ready for action at the Amex Stadium, Gomez will hope for at least some minutes from the bench on Sunday as Anfield prepares for a celebration 35 years in the making.

"He didn't tick all the boxes yet, but I think there was a spot open, so it was for me a moment where I could show my gratitude towards him to show what he's done on the pitch for us, but also off the pitch for us," says Slot about the decision to keep Gomez under wraps earlier this week.

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"For me as a manager they are not only the player but they are also the human being.

I am hoping he can make some minutes (on Sunday) if he ticks all the boxes this week."

Gomez appears to have acquired the role once regularly occupied by Divock Origi in having this future called into question at the end of every season, each summer a potential crossroads in his Liverpool career.

Indeed, this has been a campaign largely of frustration for the England international.

Having been close to joining Newcastle United last summer in a deal that would have seen Anthony Gordon move the other way before the Magpies pulled the plug, Gomez then failed to make the first matchday squad of the Arne Slot era and was restricted to just two brief substitute outings in the Premier League before the visit of Brighton in early November.

Liverpool, who had been knocked off the top by Manchester City the previous week after being held 2-2 at Arsenal, were behind at the interval.

But a quietly inspirational showing from Gomez having been brought on at half-time for the injured Ibrahima Konate provided the unlikely foundation for a 2-1 win.

With City losing at Bournemouth at the same time, the Reds went back to the summit and were subsequently never caught.

Gomez had moved ahead of Jarell Quansah in the centre-back pecking order and a month later, with Konate once again sidelined, he started in his preferred centre-back position in the Premier League for only the second time in 18 months in the 2-0 home win over Manchester City and kept his place before the hamstring setback at West Ham.

A total of just 874 minutes of senior action is Gomez's lowest amount since the 2016/17 campaign before which, having recovered from an anterior ligament injury, he damaged his Achilles.

Now having turned 28 on Friday, the defender once again faces an uncertain summer with Liverpool assessing their centre-back options for the present and near future.

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But after sweeping the board of honours during his time at Anfield, 241 appearances in there is only one thing missing from Gomez's time at Liverpool.

Should he score on Sunday, the cheer would perhaps match that of any heard that afternoon.


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