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Arne Slot remains hopeful that Alexis Mac Allister will be fit to return for Liverpool's clash with Arsenal at Anfield on Sunday.
The Argentine international was absent from Monday's 3-2 victory over Newcastle United after pulling out of training earlier in the week, an issue that Slot suggests wouldn't normally have been a major concern had Mac Allister had a full pre-season under his belt.
However, having missed the final games of the 24/25 season, Mac Allister only returned to action for the Community Shield earlier this month, leading Slot to exercise caution with his midfielder. Despite this, the Liverpool boss is optimistic that the former Brighton and Hove Albion star will be ready for Sunday's clash against Mikel Arteta's Gunners, reports the Liverpool Echo.
"We are hoping, yeah," Slot said following Monday's match at St James' Park. "He had to leave the training pitch two days ago. And that would not have been the biggest problem if he had a proper pre-season.
"But he missed out for so many weeks and there's a reason why he goes inside because he probably feels something. That is the difficult balance to make for the players who have not had a proper pre-season. Because that is where you bring the base throughout the whole season. And these intensity levels, we faced last week (against Bournemouth) and this (at Newcastle) topped it up ten times I think.
"You need to be so, so fit. Then it is a risk if you bring a player who didn't have a proper pre-season, in this environment, with such a long season to go, it was too much of a risk for me. But I am hoping, I am hoping things improve in the next one or two days so he is available for Sunday."
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Arsenal, meanwhile, are sweating over the fitness of Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, who were forced off with injury against Leeds United on Saturday. football.london understands the duo's injuries are not as serious as first feared, although Saka is set to miss the clash against Arsenal while Odegaard is a doubt.
The club are also waiting to find out the extent of Kai Havertz's knee injury and will hope to have Christian Norgaard back in the squad for the clash against the Reds. Gabriel Jesus returned to individual training on the grass this week as he continues his recovery from knee surgery.
Liverpool secured victory in the 100th minute courtesy of Rio Ngumoha, who found the net on his Premier League bow just moments after coming on as a late substitute following goals from Bruno Guimaraes and Will Osula that had responded to strikes from Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike.
When questioned whether he felt frustrated that Newcastle's 10 men were permitted to claw their way back into the contest after Anthony Gordon's dismissal in first-half injury time, Slot responded: "No, not at all because that is what their playing-style brought.
"You cannot control the game if every single ball is thrown into your 18-yard box; every throw-in is a long throw; every free-kick they get is a long ball. And they can do both if they want to, that is why it is such a good team. They can play out from the back and they can be intense in their pressing, they have so many quality players, but they also have the quality to play like this, with so many big players.
"So you cannot control the game in these set pieces. Of course it helps a little bit to have an extra man in set pieces but if the goalkeeper takes the ball, there is no use having an extra player anymore. It was impossible for us to control the game but we had it for quite long and I was hoping for us to do more, to create more, but we were not patient enough. We were calm in the build up but our attackers should keep it longer.
"Every time they forced the pass and then we had to defend a long goal kick again. So no we couldn't control the game better because that was down to their playing style."
Slot opted to start Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back due to Jeremie Frimpong's hamstring injury and Conor Bradley's recent return to training. The Reds' boss was thrilled with the performance of the Hungary captain, whose clever dummy played a crucial role in setting up Ngumoha's last-minute winner from Mohamed Salah's pass.
"Yeah talking about mentality, I think it is not easy to play as a full-back if you have only been a midfielder in your career," Slot said. "Dom played there once against Stoke in pre-season but then we had mainly had the ball. Now he had to defend a lot. So for him to put in a performance like that, that says a lot about his mentality.
"And you can say that about all the players because this was mentally such a difficult evening, a difficult place to go and a difficult opponent to play against. So for us to come away with a result and a win is a big compliment for the boys."
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