Liverpool have been plagued by injuries ahead of the Carabao Cup semi-final, including Trent Alexander-Arnold picking up a knee injury.The Reds will be without a defender at Anfield on Wednesday night.
Liverpool’s medical staff are still waiting to know the extent of the injury, but he has been ruled out of cup competitions and could be out for up to three weeks of football.Jurgen Klopp’s side travel to Premier League side Bournemouth for the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg at Craven Cottage four days later on January 20.
They will then play either Norwich or Bristol Rovers in the fourth round of the FA Cup before returning to Premier League action against Chelsea on Merseyside later this month.”Firstly, the good news: Trent sprained his knee badly in the last game,” Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders told a news conference on Tuesday.
“So he’s got a bit of a torn collateral ligament in his knee, it’s going to take a while to heal. He’s had a scan and he’ll be out for a few weeks. We’ll see after that.” “I hope he rests and gets back to where he was before because this guy has been decisive in every game and has always created for us from deep and gives the team a lot of flexibility.” We will truly miss him.”Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk could play against Arsenal on Wednesday due to illness.
Leenders added: “Virgill is back. He played a bit on the pitch yesterday and looked good again. So he returned to the team and recovered well. So it really helped that he didn’t have to go to London.”Dominic Szoboszlai missed the Fulham game with a hamstring injury, while Andy Robertson (shoulder) and Kostas Tsimikas (collarbone) are close to full fitness.
Linjnders continued: “Dom is making good progress on the pitch, he is running, so we will see. “He can’t come to work tomorrow and it’s Robbo, he’s almost three months old and he’s being watched by the surgeon.
When he gets his scan and we look at everything (to help him progress) he goes to Dubai for a week and does some good volume sessions, real sessions, which will help him. Then we’ll look at our quarterly scans and see how quickly we make contact.