Every word Arne Slot said on Alexander Isak, growing Liverpool injury list and Hugo Ekitike plan

Every word Liverpool boss Arne Slot said in his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Wolves, including injury updates on Alexander Isak, Conor Bradley and more

Liverpool boss Arne Slot

Injuries were the big talking point as Arne Slot held his final pre-match press conference of 2025 ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Wolves.

The Reds close out the year at home to the Premier League’s bottom side on Saturday, and they’ll have to do so with a squad that has become further depleted this week following Alexander Isak’s injury against Tottenham.

The striker is confirmed to have suffered a broken leg after Micky van de Ven’s challenge, and the club revealed he underwent surgery on Monday, with a long lay-off now expected as Slot counts the cost of the 2-1 win in north London.

Isak wasn’t the only player to come away from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with an injury worry, with Slot giving all the latest on that front and other topics during his press conference at the AXA Training Centre on Tuesday…

On Alexander Isak's injury

"It's going to be a long injury, for a couple of months. That's a big, big disappointment for him, and as a result of that, also for us."

Will Isak's injury impact January transfer plans?

"I think my first and only thoughts are on the upcoming two games. Two difficult ones again, two home games, that's really nice.

"So I think it's the time for the players we do have available to do what they have done so many times, to roll their sleeves up. Not only our players but our fans as well, to help us in the best possible way to get the results we want in the upcoming two games, because therefore the players that are available need to give everything they have.

"As the fans – as they usually do and I expect them to do again as well – will help us. That is where my focus is on."

Alexander Isak has undergone surgery after suffering a leg break(Image: Getty Images)

On other injuries

"Conor [Bradley] will be 50-50, he's not training with us today, not tomorrow, so Friday we will see exactly where he is, if he can be in the squad yes or no for the weekend.

"Joe [Gomez] won't be available, Wata [Wataru Endo] won't be available. Cody [Gakpo], a bit similar to Conor."

On facing Wolves

"Every game in the Premier League is a dangerous game or a difficult game. But I see the same as what you were just saying that their results throughout the whole season haven't been what they were hoping for but they come closer and closer to results – especially Arsenal away, of course, where they were very close to a result over there.

"As always, there's a challenge in every Premier League game and that's the same for this one."

On the players' workload increasing and Micky van de Ven's challenge

“That's the extra problem you get with injuries. Most of the injuries we have are not related to overloading, so Alex's injury, that has nothing to do with overloading a player, the same with Wata.

“Of course, there are one or two who might have to do with overloading, so Cody has a muscle injury, the same is to be said about Joe Gomez.

Micky van de Ven's challenge on Alexander Isak left the Liverpool striker with a broken leg(Image: Getty Images)

“But for me, this was a reckless challenge. I think I've said a lot about the tackle of Xavi Simons, which for me was completely unintentional, and I don't think you will ever get an injury out of a tackle like that.

“The tackle of Van de Ven, if you make that tackle 10 times, I think 10 times there is a serious chance that the player gets a serious injury.”

On Rio Ngumoha

"I think I said last time already that for his age, if I'm correct he's 17, I think he has, I'm not 100 per cent sure, the most minutes of all 17 year olds in the Premier League, so that tells you how much playing time he gets, how special that already is for a 17-year-old.

"That also tells you something about his quality because it's not completely normal for a 17-year-old already to have so much playing time as he had. But it also tells you something about the availability in those areas.

Rio Ngumoha could get more chances amid Liverpool's injury problems(Image: 2025 UEFA)

"But for the weekend, that's not the biggest concern, that position, I would say. Hopefully Cody is back, I'm not sure but hopefully, Federico [Chiesa] can play there, Florian [Wirtz] can play there.

"If he would be a player that would play in a different position, he would probably have even more chance to come in. But it's the same for all the other players. I think in the game against Tottenham I had four U21 players on the bench, so that increases the chance for him to come in as well. So, let's see."

On Jeremie Frimpong's fitness

"In the weekend he was on a maximum of 30 minutes because he has been out for quite long. I think he is able to start this weekend if I make that decision. Sometimes situations change, so you need to take a bit more risk than you would maybe usually do if everyone was available.

"So that's what I mean, the players that are available have to roll their sleeves up – including our fans – to get the best possible chance of a good outcome in the upcoming two games. That's for him the same as the others.

"Why I took him off had, of course, nothing to do with an injury. That had to do with not being down to 10 when you have to defend a set-piece, because we already had to defend a set-piece with 10 men and you know the outcome – we conceded. Federico would definitely come in but the idea was for someone else, but I didn't want to go down to 10 men in that moment."

Could Harvey Elliott return from his loan?

"Harvey is an Aston Villa player and he is supposed to be going there for a season. Any questions about him, the best thing [is] to ask in Villa. But they are doing really, by the way."

On Hugo Ekitike's development

"Still he needs to get stronger but he already became stronger. I don't think he changed a lot in all his offensive qualities – he's fast, he can score a goal, he has great footwork, he's got dribbling skills. He has so much in his locker, I think that's the way you say it here.

"I think he's adjusted to the Premier League now. Now he has to not only adjust but make sure – with his physique, how fast he is – he can become also physically outstanding, and that's where he's working really hard.

Hugo Ekitike has impressed since arriving in the summer(Image: Liverpool FC, Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

"Same with him, by the way, in the last three, four minutes, he was very, very, very tired in the Tottenham game as well. I see this more often but that is maybe also because so many of the same players constantly have to play, there's hardly any rest for them.

"I have to give them a lot of compliments that they constantly can bring what they are bringing, playing so many games, hardly any rest because we don't have so many chances to rotate. Every single time they fight, fight, fight from the first second until the last – and Hugo is one of them."

On Isak's tough period and whether he's confident he will return this season

“Yeah, the last thing I am. And the first thing, it’s been a really challenging and difficult period for him, I think.

“You join a new club and usually when you join a new club you are, and he was of course, very excited and you want to show immediately all the qualities you have but that was simply impossible.

“Maybe no-one understands but if you haven’t trained for three or four months on a serious level with the team and you’re playing in this league… in this league you need to be on the top of your game to impact a game of football.

Alexander Isak was forced off immediately after scoring against Tottenham(Image: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

“That took, which we all knew, months before we could bring him there because there was no pre-season, there were games, games, games.

“We had hardly any time to train, so we always knew that it would take him time and that’s why he is so unlucky that he is now injured because I think we all saw with his goal against West Ham, with this goal [against Tottenham], that he got closer and closer to the player he was at Newcastle.”

Is Florian Wirtz okay after limping at Spurs?

“Yes. Another example of a player who has to play a lot and is adjusting better and better and better to the Premier League.

“In an ideal world, I could have rested him a little bit more. He will be there for us again on Saturday.”

Focusing on set-pieces

"I am so focused on [that] and since I'm here as well, but I know the importance of set-pieces – it gets more and more and more. That's why I, we are so annoyed by our current record, because it's impossible to play top four, top five with our set-piece balance, let alone winning the league. So, we're the only team in the top end of the table that has a negative set-piece balance. All the others have a positive balance.

"We're not only negative, we're minus eight. Minus eight and we're still on equal points for fourth, if I'm correct. We all know why because in open chances created we're the No.1 in the league. So, no-one has to tell me how important set-pieces are and not even any manager in the world anymore, let alone in the Premier League. Because the Premier League is, if I say 50-50 I exaggerate a bit too much, but set-pieces are so, so, so important.

Virgil van Dijk challenges for the ball with Tottenham's Cristian Romero(Image: Getty Images)

"That's why it's a big frustration for us that we are where we are this season, because last season when we were halfway through the season we had not even conceded one set-piece yet and in the second half of the season – where I've said many times already that we didn't play the same football anymore as we did [in the] first half of the season, not as good anymore for all kinds of reasons – we had a great set-piece record because I think we scored seven set-pieces [in the] second half of the season.

"So, it's a chance for winning the league if you have a good set-piece balance. But if we are minus eight and Chelsea is, I think, plus eight, Arsenal is plus eight, I don't exactly know the numbers, United is very high in set-pieces. So if you look at that, you could almost say how special it is that we are having the points we are having if you have that set-piece balance."

What has changed from last season with set-pieces?

"Nothing. Our set-up is the same. Defensively, our set-up is the same as almost any other team in the league. And if you look at xG, you probably know what it is, then you wouldn't expect us to concede so many goals.

"So you could argue then if things go back to normal, we will not concede as much anymore. But after half a season is it still a coincidence that we concede so much more than what you would expect us to concede? That's a difficult one. But our set-up has been mostly the same.

"Of course in the summer we've changed players. Everybody only thinks we've brought in but we did lose a few as well. But I don't even think that has had so much of an impact because the ones we've lost were not the ones that were defensively the ones that made sure we didn't concede."