Arne Slot has admitted that Joe Gomez has been battling a knee injury which prevented him from featuring against Nottingham Forest last weekend. The defender remained on the bench at Anfield on Saturday despite Liverpool being without a natural right-back option. This led Slot to deploy Dominik Szoboszlai in the back four, despite Gomez being a more obvious choice.
Addressing that selection, the Liverpool head coach explained that Gomez has been hampered by a knee complaint recently which required treatment last week. Gomez isn't the sole fitness worry, with Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley all absent from training at the moment and Giovanni Leoni a long-term miss. "He is one of the five defenders we have," said Slot on Gomez. "Normally I wouldn't go into the details that much, but he had an injection last week on his knee.
"Apart from me making the decision to play Dom in that position, it is to do with him not being completely fit. He is in the group for tomorrow, as he was on Saturday, but he wasn't able to train last week every single time."
The choice to deploy Szoboszlai at right-back attracted some scrutiny, particularly considering his excellent performances in midfield. Gomez has made just two starts this campaign, both coming in the Carabao Cup.
He has endured injury setbacks in recent seasons, and is yet to start a league fixture so far this calendar year. With Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong and Giovanni Leoni all sidelined due to injuries, Slot is likely to call upon Gomez in the coming weeks during a crucial stage of the season.
He may even feature in Wednesday's Champions League clash against PSV Eindhoven. Addressing Liverpool's defensive shortage, Slot stated: "We have five defenders available, and [left-back] is in the only position where we have double.
"In all the other positions Joe Gomez can help us out but there's no other competition at this moment in time."
When questioned if Szoboszlai could start at right-back against PSV, Slot added: "He is one of the options I have but also clear Dom is good in other areas of the pitch.
"I was expecting we'd have a lot of ball possession against Forest so he could attack a lot down the right. Let's see where we use him tomorrow, but I am going to use him, that's for sure."