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Liverpool is set to be without two defenders for Sunday’s Community Shield against Crystal Palace.
The Reds finished pre-season with back-to-back matches against Athletic Bilbao on Monday, and both XIs featured patched-up defenses. Yet, the return of Alisson and Virgil van Dijk to training this week boosts Arne Slot’s numbers ahead of his second trip to Wembley.
Both are expected to start against Palace, a match that will provide an important opportunity to build fitness and rhythm before the Premier League campaign begins next week. But that won’t be the case for Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez, both of whom missed the Bilbao matches and are not expected to be back for the Community Shield.
“Unfortunately, [Gomez] has a minor injury at the moment but he will be back with the team very soon,” said Slot on Friday, while adding that Bradley is also expected to miss out. The Northern Irishman was not spotted in training on and is also a doubt to face Bournemouth next week.
Meanwhile, Ryan Gravenberch is available to face Palace despite picking up a red card on the final day of last season, ironically against the Eagles. His one-man suspension will apply to the Bournemouth encounter next week.
That could see Alexis Mac Allister return to the team following an injury-hampered pre-season. He started his first game of the summer against Bilbao on Monday but was given just 56 minutes by Slot and is still being eased back.
“[Mac Allister] will be in the squad [against Palace],” said Slot on Friday.
“He was out for two months I think, or longer because we didn’t play him in the last four games of the season. He trained with us since a week now, played 30 minutes, 45 minutes.
“So that’s not a situation where you would start a player [and] play him for 90 minutes. Starting is possible but definitely not for 90 minutes.”
Asked about Sunday’s opponents, Slot added: “Unfortunately, we face a very good Crystal Palace that have been very difficult to win against for us, because we played 1-1 against them in the last game of the season.
“They showed in the last [FA Cup] final – and even in the semi-final, by the way, as well – how difficult it is to win a one-off game [against] them.
“I think most of the players that they have are still there, so even more reason to know what a difficult team it is to play against.”
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