Slot delivers terrifying injury update ahead of crucial Chelsea meeting

Liverpool are currently top of the Premier League but we all know this period of games before Christmas will test Arne Slot’s squad and that starts with the match against Chelsea this weekend.

Speaking with the press, the 46-year-old provided an injury update: “Alisson is for sure not with us in the upcoming weeks, that’s clear. So, that’s a blow for him and for us because I think he did really well this season and did so well for this club for so many years.

“Now the good thing is, and I said this many times, that Caoimhin [Kelleher] did well for us in previous years and this season also, so we have a good replacement. But you always want all of your players available.

“Now we’ve got quite some issues from players coming back from the national teams, and we can only judge that perfectly today because today is the first time that they are all in and the first time that they are all training together again. So, let’s see after the session where everybody is.

“Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] missed one game [for Argentina], he played the second one. Kostas [Tsimikas] missed out in the first game against England so I can name them all but we’ve got a few issues going on and let’s wait and see where we are after today. [Wataru] Endo as well was also sick.”

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Alisson Becker will be missing for several weeks

The fact that Alisson Becker won’t be part of our plans certainly won’t come as much of a surprise, given his departure from action against Crystal Palace and confirmation of a lengthy absence.

Add onto this though a seeming doubt over the fitness of numerous players, it’s a worrying situation for the Reds to be in as there can’t be many who aren’t covered by this umbrella of concern.

We can assume that Caoimhin Kelleher, Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah should be in the starting line-up but without further information, anybody else can only be based on guess work.

Alexis Mac Allister, Wataru Endo and Kostas Tsimikas being name checked is a sign that these may be the least likely to feature at Anfield – making the inclusion of the Argentine midfielder on international duty even worse.

We can be thankful that we have until Sunday for the squad to recover and let’s hope we can field a team strong enough to defeat Enzo Maresca’s side.

You can watch Slot’s injury update (from 1:11) on via Liverpool FC on YouTube: