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Hugo Ekitike travelled to London but was not in the squad against Fulham (Martin Rickett/PA)
Hugo Ekitike travelled to London but was not in the squad against Fulham (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Wire)
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Hugo Ekitike remains a doubt to face Premier League leaders Arsenal on Thursday night, Liverpool manager Arne Slot has said.
Ekitike is Liverpool’s top goalscorer this season but did not play against Fulham on the weekend after feeling some discomfort in his hamstring.
“He’s not trained with us til now,” Slot said on Wednesday morning. “Let’s see if he can today. I said, two or three days ago when we played Fulham, that he’s not going to be out for long but, because game’s come so fast, he’s in between maybe training with the team or it may take him one or two days extra.”
Liverpool’s title defence may have crumbled, sitting 14 points behind Arsenal in the table after 20 games, but they remain in a battle to qualify for next season’s Champions League, and still have two trophies to play for. Slot believes victory over Mikel Arteta’s leaders would fire confidence in his side going into the second half of the campaign.
“It would mean a lot, it tells you you can compete in latter stages with any other team. We have shown that already, we beat Arsenal at home and other games we’ve beaten strong teams, but we also know that it is a special game for them. We have to be ready, they are in a positive vibe at the moment and it is obvious we aren’t.
“This club has shown so many times when they haven’t had the best league form they can still win a trophy. It is always possible because we have a good and talented group, we’ve shown this already this season. Real Madrid, Atletico, Aston Villa – look at their run – we’ve shown we can compete with almost every team. Maybe one exception but that was a disallowed goal before half-time, City away. All the other games we’ve been competitive against everyone but we’ve not had the consistency against teams we usually beat. So we are 14 behind Arsenal and have some players out but we have enough to go there and make it a proper match.”
Slot praised Arteta’s side, saying they have no weaknesses and deserve to be leading the way in the Premier League.
”They have been even better than years before. They have so many [strengths] ... They don’t have many weaknesses, hardly concede, can score from open play, set-pieces, good build-up ideas, long ball, they have the complete package and they deserve to be on top this season.”
more to follow...