Arne Slot has ruled goalkeeper Alisson out of Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Chelsea after a damaging defeat to Galatasaray dealt the club a double injury blow.
The Brazilian shot-stopper was forced off early in the second half in Istanbul after making a save from Victor Osimhen, who had earlier scored what proved to be the winner from the penalty spot with the visitors drawing a blank in front of goal.
Slot was later forced to replace forward Hugo Ekitike, returning from suspension, after the Frenchman appeared to over-extend himself stretching for a ball.
Having begun with both Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak on the bench, the Dutchman introduced the pair in search of an equaliser that didn’t arrive as Liverpool suffered back-to-back defeats for just the second time in his tenure.
Slot was not sure on the status of Ekitike, suggesting that “hopefully he isn’t in a bad way”, but immediately ruled out his first-choice goalkeeper from Saturday evening’s trip to Stamford Bridge.
“It is never positive if you go off like this,” Slot said of Alisson’s departure to Amazon Prime Video. “You can be sure that he is not playing on Saturday. We will see how long it takes but he definitely won’t play against Chelsea.”
Giorgi Mamardashvili, signed from Valencia last summer before being loaned back to the Spanish club, came on at Rams Park and is in line to stand-in for Alisson during his lay-off.
The Georgian goalkeeper made his debut for the Merseyside club in the Carabao Cup win over Southampton last week.
