Liverpool may have a growing list of injury concerns, but Arne Slot’s worries have been eased with the news that one of his key players is available for action.
The Reds travel to Chelsea on Saturday evening looking to avoid a third-straight defeat after losing at Crystal Palace and Galatasaray in recent days.
The Champions League loss in Turkey was made worse with goalkeeper Alisson and striker Hugo Ekitike both going off injured, while Federico Chiesa missed the match due to a ‘niggle’.
However, there is good news for Slot with Ekitike’s injury not as bad as feared – with him now able to play Chelsea.
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.
The news on Ekitike will be a boost after Slot admitted he was concerned over the striker following Tuesday night’s game.
Hugo Ekitike’s injury isn’t as bad as first feared and he is fit for Liverpool’s trip to Chelsea
Ekitike ‘felt something’ during Liverpool’s loss at Galatasaray and had to be substituted off
‘I wasn’t really thinking that we had an injury, but Hugo felt something,’ Slot said.
‘He said he couldn’t continue, so we had to take him off.’
Ekitike’s fortune contrasts with Alisson, with the star goalkeeper set to miss around six weeks after the Brazil No 1 went down with a hamstring blow in Istanbul.
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.
Giorgi Mamardashvili, the Georgian goalkeeper signed from Valencia for £29million in the summer, is primed to make his Premier League debut.
Alisson will also be absent for the visit of Manchester United on October 19, as well as the Champions League clash against Real Madrid at Anfield on November 4 – with a crunch Premier League clash at Manchester City following five days later.
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.
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.
Alisson went down and was forced off during Liverpool’s defeat in Istanbul on Tuesday
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.’
