Liverpool are set to be without star goalkeeper Alisson for around six weeks after the Brazil No 1 went down with a hamstring blow in Istanbul on Tuesday night.
The 33-year-old, who has been injury prone in recent seasons, is set to miss more than a month and may not return until after the international break after scans on Thursday.
But the Reds have been boosted by the news that Hugo Ekitike, their top scorer this season, is hopeful of returning to action to face Chelsea on Saturday after also going off injured in the loss at Galatasaray.
Daily Mail Sport revealed in our Liverpool Confidential column that Ekitike was confident he had suffered no major issues and the Frenchman is in line to make the trip to London.
Alisson, though, will not be on that journey and Giorgi Mamardashvili, the Georgian goalkeeper signed from Valencia for £29million in the summer, is primed to make his Premier League debut.
Across the last two seasons, Alisson has missed 20 Premier League games through injury or illness, which is one of the reasons Liverpool were keen to begin succession planning with the arrival of highly-rated Mamardashvili.
Alisson went down and was forced off during Liverpool’s defeat in Istanbul on Wednesday
There is better news over Hugo Ekitike, who was also injured but should feature at Chelsea
Federico Chiesa should be back in the squad at Stamford Bridge after missing the midweek European game through what was described as a ’niggle’, while fellow Italian Giovanni Leoni underwent surgery earlier this week on an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot said after the Galatasaray game that the Brazil international had felt something when ‘sprinting back’.
‘If my player is on the floor, nine out of 10 times I fear the worst and with the worst I mean that he cannot continue,’ Slot said.
‘It’s never positive if you go off like this. You can be sure he is not playing Saturday.’
The news on Ekitike will be a boost after Slot admitted he was concerned over the striker following the game.
‘I wasn’t really thinking that we had an injury, but Hugo felt something,” Slot added.
‘He said he couldn’t continue, so we had to take him off.’
Liverpool will be hoping to get back on track at Stamford Bridge after two defeats in a row. Four days before the Galatasaray clash they suffered their first loss in the Premier League this season, conceding a late goal in a 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace.
