**Conor Bradley is expected to miss the remainder of Liverpool’s season.**
Bradley sustained a knee injury during the closing stages of the Premier League champions’ goalless draw with leaders Arsenal on Thursday.
Arne Slot admitted after the game that he ‘feared the worst’ on the Northern Ireland captain’s condition ahead of him undergoing tests for the issue.
The Reds confirmed on Sunday that Bradley suffered a severe knee injury at the Emirates Stadium which is set to require surgery over the coming days.
Although he did not suffer an ACL injury, the 22-year-old suffered bone and ligament damage that will sideline him for large parts of this campaign.
Bradley has endured a series of injury setbacks since his Liverpool debut in 2021 and faces a race against time for his country’s World Cup play-offs.
Slot, meanwhile, insists that he will not repeat last season’s FA Cup mistakes as his side welcome Barnsley for Monday’s third round encounter at Anfield.
The Dutchman made wholesale changes a year ago as his English champions-elect were dumped out by Plymouth in the fourth round.
Matters were worsened against the lowly Championship outfit by naming just two experienced options among his substitutes’ bench at Home Park.
But Slot has vowed to learn lessons from the chastening experience in Liverpool’s preparations for the visit of their League One counterparts.
He said: “Last season I made the decision that some players needed to rest in the FA Cup because you cannot play every player every single time.
“But it’s obvious that we’re not in the League Cup anymore and the FA Cup has always been very important for us.
“Sometimes in a season where you are still competing for the League Cup, for the Champions League and the league, with the amount of players we had last season and have this season, you have to make choices.
“But I can guarantee you that on Monday you will see all the players you saw against Arsenal, maybe with some substitutions, but then they will be on the bench.
“So that’s going to be different than last season against Plymouth.”