Chelsea handed Champions League qualification boost as Liverpool's injury blow confirmed

Chelsea are in the race for Champions League football next season with rivals Liverpool handed a big injury concern

Chelsea could have been handed a Champions League boost with top-five rivals Liverpool losing Alisson to injury for their Premier League fixture against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday. The Brazilian goalkeeper has been troubled by niggling problems in recent weeks, and it has been judged too much of a gamble for him to feature this weekend.

Giorgi Mamardashvili is therefore expected to start in goal - as he did for the Champions League last-16 first leg loss to Galatasaray. Alisson returned to the starting XI for Wednesday's second leg, however, having come back for the 1-1 Premier League stalemate against Tottenham the previous weekend.

Liverpool are amongst four clubs locked in the battle for Champions League qualification for next season, with United, Chelsea and Aston Villa filling the remaining three spots behind Manchester City and Arsenal. Brentford, Everton and Newcastle United could all realistically still secure a top-five finish, though.

Injuries will likely prove crucial in determining which side falls short, with Liverpool's circumstances appearing to shift of late.

FOLLOW OUR CHELSEA FB PAGE! Latest Blues news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page

That was further evidenced earlier this week when Mohamed Salah requested to be substituted, and Slot has since confirmed he will not be available this weekend.

He said of Salah: "Unusual [he is injured], I think you expect the outcome so he is not available for tomorrow. Good thing for Liverpool is we go to international break, bad news for Egypt, he can't go there.

"We hope with what Mo has shown in the past he can recovery faster than other players. He takes such good care of his body, he can be back earlier than others as history has shown. Only two weeks until we go again."

On Joe Gomez, he added: "Joe wasn't able to come in, we tried to postpone it as often we could [against Gala], maybe a miracle can happen I told him if needed him in extra time. He might be - might be - available tomorrow but not to start."

Injuries have also hit Chelsea particularly hard recently even with Estevao Willian returning and Levi Colwill being back in team training at Cobham.

Liam Rosenior has lost Filip Jorgensen, Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah to fresh problems with the latter stretchered off against Paris Saint-Germain and set to miss at least one month. Jorgensen has undergone a minor procedure while the latest on James appears concerning.

Earlier this week, Rosenior said: "We're going to look more after the international break. It's not serious, but there is something in his hamstring, and that's something that we will monitor after the international week."

Jamie Gittens is also still out of action because of a hamstring injury with a possible setback in his recovery taking place earlier this week.

Illness caused Malo Gusto to miss the Champions League last-16 second leg defeat to Paris Saint-Germain but he is expected back for the visit to Everton this weekend.