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Liverpool and Crystal Palace will be missing several crucial players when they face off in the Premier League this weekend.
The Reds will journey to Selhurst Park as they seek to maintain their flawless start to the campaign. Arne Slot's team have secured victory in all five of their Premier League fixtures this term and remain the sole club to achieve such a record, establishing a five-point advantage at the summit.
Liverpool enter the fixture following a 2-1 triumph against Southampton in the Carabao Cup, with Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike finding the net. Nevertheless, Liverpool will be unable to call upon Ekitike for the encounter with Palace.
The forward received his marching orders during the Southampton victory after collecting two bookings at Anfield. Ekitike will serve a one-match ban for the dismissal, ruling the striker out of the Palace fixture.
Liverpool will also be without Giovanni Leoni for the match after the defender sustained an ACL injury during the Southampton win.
Slot confirmed at Friday's press conference that Leoni faces an extended period on the treatment table. "He is not in a good place because he tore his ACL which means he will be out around a year," Slot told reporters on Friday.
"Being so young and coming to a new country and playing so well in your first game, it's very hard to take the positives," the Liverpool head coach added.
"There is never a positive side but you try to look at that and that is that he is still so young and he has so many years still go to after he recovers from a terrible injury."
Palace also have several injury concerns going into the clash with Liverpool this weekend. Ismaila Sarr, Yeremy Pino, Chadi Riad, Cheick Doucoure, Caleb Kporha and Walter Benitez have all spent time on the sidelines in recent weeks and it remains to be seen if any will return to feature against the Reds. Sarr and Pino have returned to training this week.
Discussing Palace, Slot added: "They have an enormous discipline defensively, 10 outfield players plus a goalkeeper that work so hard to prevent the other team from scoring.
"We saw this also in the Community Shield – even in the moments when we were up, they could still be very disciplined and calm in their own half, in their mid-to-low block. We saw this during the week when we played Southampton, who were disciplined against us, how hard it is to play through them.
"Apart from that – but that's for every team in the Premier League – they have some individual quality, some individual players who are a big threat offensively.
"[Jean-Philippe] Mateta is one of them, [Ismaila] Sarr, who wasn't available last week but might be available this week, again was really good against us in the Community Shield, two midfielders that know how to play and good centre-backs, good wing-backs.
"So, a good team but that is what, I would say, every Premier League team has. But what maybe stands out for me with them is their discipline and their defensive work.
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