Liverpool long-term absentees van Dijk and Gomez joined by Fabinho as injured trio hit the weights

Liverpool centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez continued their recovery from long-term injuries following a session at the club's training centre.

Dutchman van Dijk suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in October's Merseyside derby, while Gomez ruptured his patella tendon while training with England back in November and was forced to undergo surgery.

The duo have missed a large chunk of the season but were all smiles at the Reds' new £50million AXA Training Centre in Kirby, and hit the weights to maintain and improve their strength.

The centre-backs were then put through a series of different drills in their individual rehab programmes, with van Dijk seen kicking a ball with a member of Liverpool's staff, and ball work was also on the agenda for team-mate Gomez.

The Dutch international was also seen on the bike and on the treadmill before receiving massages from club medical staff.

The duo were joined by Brazilian Fabinho, whose muscle issue has seen him miss the defeat at Leicester last weekend and the Champions League victory against RB Leipzig in midweek.

The midfielder - who boss Jurgen Klopp has confirmed is 'getting closer' to returning - also hit the weights with some squats and leg presses, before he too spent a bit of time with the ball at his feet.

However, he will not recover in time to face Everton at the weekend following the stalemate between the sides at Goodison Park earlier in the season.

That game was overshadowed by the horrific tackle from Jordan Pickford on van Dijk, and manager Klopp has suggested he will not figure again this season.

Klopp said earlier this month: 'At the moment, nobody, no doctor has told me there's a chance for Virgil to play in this season again.

'I don't want to say it is absolutely impossible, but it is not likely. It's not likely and we don't have to discuss these things really.'

But Klopp wants his players to channel their anger at the tackle on van Dijk in the right way in this weekend's Merseyside derby.

'Nothing will be carried to tomorrow, that's how it is,' he said.

'A week later, two weeks later, three weeks later after we got the diagnosis [on Van Dijk] and all these kind of things, it was good we didn't play Everton immediately again, let me say it like this.'

The Reds will also be without James Milner and Diogo Jota against Carlo Ancelotti's men at Anfield, though the German admits the duo are 'getting closer' to returning.