Arne Slot confirms Florian Wirtz injury update as 5 Liverpool players to miss Wolves game

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has offered the latest update on Florian Wirtz's back injury ahead of his Reds side taking on Wolves in the Premier League on Tuesday

Liverpool attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz emerges for a training session.(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Liverpool will be without Florian Wirtz for its trip to Wolves this week after he sat out matches against Nottingham Forest and West Ham United with a back injury.

Arne Slot has confirmed that the German is not ready to return yet, which he expected on Saturday. Wirtz was missed at Anfield but Liverpool will have to do without him once again. "The game probably comes too soon tomorrow and maybe the game at the weekend," Slot said. "We hope to have him back next week."

With Wirtz absent, Dominik Szoboszlai is likely to play as the most advanced midfielder once again. Curtis Jones, who was an unused subsitute against West Ham, would be another option to come into the starting XI.

Alexander Isak is sidelined with a broken leg at the moment but the Swede is working his way back to full sharpness and could return at the end of the month.

Wataru Endo, meanwhile, has undergone surgery on the injury he sustained at Sunderland. Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu said last week that his hopes of playing at the World Cup are not over.

Jeremie Frimpong returned from his latest setback last weekend against West Ham, forcing the fifth goal on the day. Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni are long-term absentees.

Arne Slot during a Liverpool press conference.(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Without Wirtz there to create chances in open play, Liverpool relied heavily on set-pieces to get over the line last time out.

"Things went back to normal, mainly because I just said that we’ve created quite a lot of chances in the first half of the season that constantly did not go in, or too many times did not go in with being unlucky," Slot said on Saturday.

"We were a lot of times very close. And even today we conceded the set-piece, they scored one and they could have scored a second one in the first half — that would have been the first one, but you know what I mean.

"Maybe one or two small details have changed defensively and offensively, I think we are set up slightly, slightly different. But the biggest reason is that things go back to normal.

"There was a period of time that we were 23 goals behind Arsenal in set-pieces, including penalties, by the way. And we’re still not only three goals away from them but we’ve closed the gap a little bit.

"Although you never know what can happen this weekend with Arsenal because I wouldn’t be surprised if they scored three from set-pieces this weekend as well."

After Chelsea and Aston Villa lost at the weekend, they play each other on Wednesday. With a win against Wolves, Liverpool can move level with Unai Emery's side and Manchester United on 51 points.