Luis Diaz is expected to be out of action until the Premier League returns following the Qatar World Cup; Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joel Matip are now out for two weeks and will miss the game against Manchester City on Sunday, live on Sky Sports
Tuesday 11 October 2022 20:37, UK
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joel Matip are out for two weeks in another blow for Liverpool ahead of Sunday's match against Manchester City at Anfield - live on Sky Sports.
Luis Diaz is already expected to be out until after the World Cup following the knee injury he sustained in the 3-2 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday.
However, the 25-year-old underwent a scan after the match, which has revealed no surgery will be necessary.
All three players will be unavailable as Liverpool welcome champions City to Anfield on Sunday, trailing Pep Guardiola's side by 13 points while holding a game in hand.
Speaking ahead of Liverpool's Champions League clash with Rangers, Jurgen Klopp confirmed the injuries but believes they are not as bad as first feared.
Klopp said: "I think we were a little bit lucky with Trent because his ankle didn't look good, to be honest. Lucho [Luis Diaz] looks like a quick healer, but we have to be careful with that. That could have been worse as well, with the way he moved after the game.
"And with Joel, he just felt a little bit [his calf]. That's what you do these days, have a scan, and he is out as well. That's not great, but it's the situation and we have to deal with it and we will."
Liverpool did receive an injury boost as Andy Robertson returned to training after a month out with a knee problem and Klopp confirmed he would be in the squad for Wednesday's game with Rangers.
Midfielders Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is yet to feature this season due to a thigh problem, and Curtis Jones also returned to training.
Klopp added: "They have only trained for a couple of days and we cannot put them in just because the others are out. Robbo is in the squad for tomorrow, Curtis is not, Ox is not. It's important that the boys are coming back but it's not come back, train twice with the team and here we go. It's not like that."
We have been here before with Liverpool, two seasons ago in fact when having just ended their 30-year wait for the title, their form collapsed after suffering a run of untimely defensive injuries that then impacted on other areas of the team.
In the 2020-21 campaign, Klopp's side looked a shadow of themselves, even losing six straight top-flight home games at one point as they were unable to implement his gegenpressing ideas with his midfield players having to be utilised as makeshift centre backs instead.
This season has seen a similar run of injuries affecting all areas of the team, meaning Klopp has been unable to rotate - including using the new five substitutes rule he was championing for so long - as much as would have liked.
This has then led to more players in the physio room, with Luis Diaz and Alexander-Arnold both forced off with serious injuries at the Emirates, while new loanee Arthur Melo has now being sidelined for three months after recently tearing his quad in training.
As a result, Klopp has not always been able to give out-of-form players such as Alexander-Arnold a much-needed rest away from the public gaze, with so few options to take their place in the team. When he has opted to do so, as with Fabinho, due to a lack of fit replacements he has been forced to call upon 36-year-old James Milner."
On the latest episode of Essential Football we take a closer look at the problems at Liverpool, after their defeat at Arsenal left them already 14 points off top spot in the Premier League.
Sky Sports News' senior reporter Melissa Reddy and Sky Sports' senior football journalist Richard Morgan join Peter Smith to assess the wider issues at the club - and the form and fitness worries compounding those problems.
From mis-steps in the transfer window to the team's tactical evolution under Jurgen Klopp the panel discuss how a team which was going for an unprecedented quadruple earlier this year is now languishing in mid-table a long way off the early pace setters in the Premier League.
