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Jeremie Frimpong is set to remain on the treatment table until December following a hamstring setback sustained during Liverpool's victory over Eintracht Frankfurt. The Netherlands international managed only 19 minutes against the German outfit before requiring substitution, and has since been absent for the Reds' losses to Brentford and Crystal Palace.
Arne Slot initially indicated in Germany that he anticipated being without the right-back for several weeks, before subsequently acknowledging his fellow Dutchman was facing an extended period on the sidelines.
"Jeremie's not in a good place," Slot remarked ahead of the Brentford encounter. "What I mean by that he is definitely not going to play today, tomorrow or next week. Hamstring injury so that's going to take a while."
Reports from the Daily Mail suggest Frimpong is now confronting a six-week absence, marking the second occasion this campaign he has suffered a hamstring complaint.
The defender was forced off through injury during his Premier League debut against AFC Bournemouth, though he was sidelined for merely two matches before returning following the September international break.
Nevertheless, having already sat out two games since his most recent problem, Frimpong could potentially miss up to seven additional fixtures should the reported six-week layoff prove correct.
Liverpool is set to host Aston Villa on Saturday evening before a series of high-profile matches including welcoming Real Madrid on Tuesday November 4 and travelling to Man City on Sunday November 9.
Following the international break, the Reds will then play Nottingham Forest at home on Saturday November 22 and PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday November 26, before heading to West Ham United on Sunday November 30.
The Reds are scheduled to kick off December with a home match against Sunderland, a fixture that comes six weeks after their European journey to Frankfurt.
By this time, it is anticipated that Frimpong will be close to making a return, with Slot's team then facing away games at Leeds United and Inter Milan. Frimpong's expected absence duration sheds new light on Slot's controversial team selection for Liverpool's League Cup defeat to Crystal Palace.
The Dutch manager made ten changes to his starting line-up for the match against the Eagles, which resulted in a 3-0 loss, and named an entirely academy-based substitutes' bench while giving most of his senior squad the night off.
With Conor Bradley being his only available senior right-back option in Frimpong's absence, Slot referred to the Northern Ireland international when defending his contentious selection policy.
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"Everybody can have [their] opinion about it but with the squad we have - maybe 15, 16 first-team players available - this is the choice I've made," he explained post-match.
"Last time we played Southampton here in the League Cup, Giovanni Leoni got injured, and we don't have such a big squad as people might tell, because there was so much focus on the amount of money we spent [in the summer].
"People all of a sudden think we have 25 players available but we mainly have 20 players then we have four injuries.
"I only have one right full-back, Conor Bradley, as an example, and every time I had to play him twice in three days or three times in seven days [last season], it led to him... that I had to take him off with a hamstring injury or something else.
"Are you willing to take that risk with such a big week coming up? Last time I played a player that wasn't fully prepared - we thought he was prepared but it was the first time - Alexander Isak, he got injured.
"Last time we played Southampton, Leoni was injured and it was a red card for Hugo Ekitike. Those are the things we can't use with a big week coming up.
"But there's always a choice. What if I had played Virgil [van Dijk] and Ibou [Konate], for example, if one of them got injured people would have said, 'What a stupid choice.'".
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