Arne Slot gives injury updates on Frimpong, Isak, Gomez and Endo ahead of Forest clash
Arne Slot has provided injury updates on Liverpool quartet Jeremie Frimpong, Alexander Isak, Joe Gomez and Wataru Endo ahead of the Reds’ return to Premier League action against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
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While our long-serving number 2 has appeared off the bench in the wins over Sunderland and Brighton, the others have all been sidelined in recent weeks, with the Japanese midfielder suffering a serious setback in the victory at the Stadium of Light.
The glut of defensive injuries has led the LFC head coach to deploy several midfielders at right-back over the past few games, but thankfully it looks as though he may have a more natural option for that role at the City Ground this coming weekend.
Slot provides injury updates on Liverpool quartet
Slot held his pre-match press conference on Thursday morning, and he provided a mixture of good and bad news with his injury updates on the aforementioned Liverpool quartet, as outlined below (via Liverpool Echo):
Frimpong: “Jeremie will not be involved this weekend. We hope he will be involved next week if things go as planned.”
Endo: “Wata will be out for a long time. We don’t know exactly how long.”
Gomez: “I think Joe is ready to start [against Forest]. Yes, he is.”
Isak: “Alex has been on the [training] pitch with his running shoes for the first time this week, so it will still be a while…It will be somewhere around the international break. That depends on whether he has a setback. It’ll be the end of March, start of April when he’s back with the group, but it doesn’t mean he’s ready to start playing straight away.”
Gomez return will be especially welcome for Liverpool
Dealing firstly with the short-term updates, it’s unfortunate that the Forest game will come a bit too soon for Frimpong, but Slot’s reassurance that Gomez is ‘ready to start’ will be music to Liverpool fans’ ears.
In four matches since the Dutchman suffered his injury against Qarabag in late January, three different midfielders have been selected to start at right-back, so it’ll be a relief to finally see a more natural option in that role on Sunday.
| Liverpool starting right-backs since 31 January | |
| Newcastle (4-1, 31 Jan) | Dominik Szoboszlai |
| Man City (1-2, 8 Feb) | Dominik Szoboszlai (sent off) |
| Sunderland (1-0, 11 Feb) | Wataru Endo (injured, replaced by Gomez) |
| Brighton (3-0, 14 Feb) | Curtis Jones |
That’s not being disrespectful to those who filled in to plug the gap – those who did have our immense gratitude for taking on that responsibility for the team’s benefit.
Over the longer-term, there finally seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel for Isak, even though Slot is understandably preaching caution given the striker’s fitness issues since his big-money move from Newcastle last year.
If Liverpool’s record signing is cleared to return after the international break, having him available for the post-Easter run-in could be huge. As brilliantly as Hugo Ekitike has performed in his absence, the Frenchman is being constantly asked to go to the well for his team, and he could do with an occasional breather in the coming weeks.
The Reds boss had recently said he’s hopeful of Endo returning before the season is out, and right now that’d appear to be the best-case scenario for the Japanese midfielder, whose injury blow at Sunderland left his teammates ‘gutted’, in Virgil van Dijk’s words.
Hopefully he and Isak will make smooth progress with their longer-term issues, and fingers crossed that we might have Frimpong back for the home clash against West Ham at the end of this month.
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