Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says forward Diogo Jota will be sidelined for “months” with a knee injury and goalkeeper Alisson Becker and defender Curtis Jones are out of his side’s Premier League match against Luton Town at Anfield on Wednesday.
Wideman Trent Alexander-Arnold and midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai will also not be involved at Anfield, while Klopp is uncertain over the fitness of top scorer Mohamed Salah and striker Darwin Nunez and says the pair are being reassessed daily.
“Ali is not available with a muscle injury,” Klopp said, describing the number of absentees as “definitely not great.”
“I don’t know how long it takes. Diogo has a knee injury. Curtis has a bone, knee ligament injury.
“With the others, we will deal with it day by day. Trent and Dom are on the way back but are not in team training yet, so they are not available.”
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Salah scored on his comeback from a hamstring injury in his side’s 4-1 win at Brentford on Saturday but was rumoured to have suffered another issue during the game, with Nunez netting the opener before being replaced at the break.
“I couldn’t give you a timeframe even if I wanted to,” said Klopp. “They all react differently to different issues.”
Liverpool injury update: Klopp ‘flexible’
Hungary captain Szoboszlai has missed three consecutive Premier League matches with a hamstring injury – the same problem which kept Alisson from playing against Brentford, having not featured in the preceding victory over Burnley through illness.
“I’ve always had to be flexible,” said Klopp, whose side lead Arsenal by two points at the top of the table ahead of a match against visitors seeking the point they require to rise out of the relegation zone.
“It’s not a problem. You use the boys and you know what they can do. When we had both natural left-backs out, we found a solution and it worked brilliantly.
An injury update from Jürgen Klopp 🗣️ PIC.TWITTER.COM/BBYUYUWHUE
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) FEBRUARY 20, 2024
“As long as it’s not an hour before the game – then it becomes really tricky and it’s only a little talk and hope.
“All of these boys are good on the ball and have to be good against the ball. It was good fun rather than a problem.
“It would be better if I could just say we have no injuries and then you could talk about the luxury problem of who will start. We get the news and deal with it, no excuses.
“There are 5,000 ways of playing a football game and we only have to find one. That should always be possible, especially at home.”
