The striker was not involved in the Reds squad that traveled to Craven Cottage on Sunday, with Cody Gakpo coming in to replace him the attacking areas
13:55, 04 Jan 2026Updated 14:19, 04 Jan 2026
Hugo Ekitike
Hugo Ekitike missed Liverpool's game against Fulham with "a minor fitness issue"(Image: Getty Images)
Hugo Ekitike missed Liverpool's Premier League trip to Fulham due to "a minor fitness issue", the club has confirmed.
The French striker has netted five in his last five matches and his presence will be missed at Craven Cottage, especially with Alexander Isak also injured and rookie forward Jayden Danns still unavailable.
Cody Gakpo came in to replace Ekitike in the line-up and could be set to play as a central striker against Fulham. He is one of three changes from the Leeds United stalemate on new Year's Day, with Milos Kerkez and Alexis Mac Allister also coming in to replace Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz.
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Ekitike's absence came as a surprise. There was no indication he was a doubt for the game and the former Eintracht Frankfurt man played the full 90 minutes against Leeds .
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of the game, Arne Slot provided more clarity on the nature of the problem, and revealed the 23-year-old could also miss the Arsenal game on Thursday.
"Alexander Isak has been out for a few weeks now, and that has meant Hugo had to play more minutes than he did throughout the whole season and that has led to the fact he picked up a slight hamstring injury because we had to play him more minutes than a player for his age who is not used to the Premier League completely.
"That has why he has been out for today and hopefully will be back for the Arsenal game but that is not sure yet."
Asked if he had options to freshen the team, Slot said: "We have options, as you can see today. I think we have a very good team that is playing for Liverpool today.
"Maybe not all of them are in their ideal or perfect position, but they are all very good football players.
"There is also the opportunity to impact the game with players off the bench. Jeremie Frimpong, for example, a player that missed almost the whole season, and has played a few games in a row now in the last one or two weeks.
"With the January schedule and not so many players available, I have to take care of them as well.
"Conor Bradley, we can say the same about him. He's had an injury; I think December 5 is the last time he played 90 minutes.
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"This is what we all to have to take into account when I have to make a line-up."
There was better news elsewhere in the team, with Joe Gomez returning to the squad after missing the last three games through injury.