5 days ago
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Liverpool will be without three players for Wednesday’s Premier League clash against Sunderland.
The availability of Arne Slot’s squad was a major talking point during the head coach’s pre-match press conference, with the Dutchman delivering updates on several players. Slot revealed Conor Bradley was back in training earlier this week, while Jeremie Frimpong is closing in on a return.
“Conor got into a training session yesterday for the first time, team training. He's not everything 100 per cent yet so we have to manage that a little bit, so don't get your hopes up too soon, too fast,” he said.
“The good thing is he does certain things with the group already. We expect the same with Jeremie next week.
“The two of them will come back but, unfortunately, we play a lot of games in the upcoming weeks. Jeremie, at least, will be training with us but he miss out on at least three more games, for example. I hope Conor will be available for Leeds.”
The absence of Bradley and Frimpong poses a problem at right-back, as has been the case in recent weeks.
Slot has deployed Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones and Joe Gomez at right-back in the last three games, and one of the trio will likely be selected in that position again against Sunderland.
The only other injury concern for Liverpool ahead of that game is Giovanni Leoni, who has been ruled out for the entirety of the season due to a long-term knee problem.
Slot also hinted in his press conference that he may need to rotate his squad in a congested run of three Premier League matches in seven days.
“Yesterday we had recovery and after this press conference we are going to train. So let’s see how players feel.
“Florian [Wirtz], for an example, has missed one and a half, two weeks of training, so for him to already play so many minutes was a good thing.
“Joe Gomez is one of them. For Alex [Isak] to score his first [league] goal [on Sunday] was also very positive. Also a player who could not have played five to 10 minutes more than he played because he told me yesterday that he felt a little bit of cramp coming up already.
“He’s another player we should see how he does when he trains today.”
Pushed on whether the trio can play three games in seven days, Slot added: “I think they are not able to play three times 90, that's for sure.
“Now I have to wait and see how they feel today and if they are able to play from the start again but all three can be involved in all three games if they don’t get an injury, that is a fair assumption to make.”
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