Liverpool will travel to Bournemouth without three defenders.
The Reds travel to the Vitality Stadium without three defenders. Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni will not play again this season because of respective knee injuries, while Ibrahima Konate has been granted compassionate leave following the passing of his father.
Konate also did not play in the 3-0 victory over Marseille in the Champions League earlier this week. It meant that Gomez was handed a rare start in central defence - and his performance was hailed as ‘outstanding’ by Slot.
Liverpool’s longest-serving player has had injury issues in recent years and had a hamstring problem earlier this season. With the Reds having just two days to recover from the Marseille win before facing Bournemouth, Slot conceded that he will have to see how Gomez feels.
The Anfield head coach said: “We always try to prepare players for the demands of the game. If we play him as a full-back, we prepare him for what it takes as a full-back. But he played a very good game as a centre-back but I also liked him a lot when he played as a full-back against Inter Milan.
“He has shown he's one of the few players who doesn't have to play a lot of games but still play at a very high level. That is very positive. He's not always been available but this season more than last season. It's good to have him. He played a good game off the ball but I also remember a few balls through the lines that were really effective - as the build-up for the [third goal] he was part of. Two-day turnaround, hasn't played many games so let's see how he feels today and if he starts on Saturday.”
Liverpool are also carefully managing the fitness of Jeremie Frimpong. The summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen returned from a hamstring injury last month, which had kept him sidelined for two months. Frimpong was operating on the right wing while Mo Salah was at the African Cup of Nations and is now the Reds’ only right-back with Bradley sustaining knee ligament and bone damage.
Frimpong’s high-octane style means he could be more vulnerable to picking up another hamstring problem. And Slot knows Liverpool need to take ‘good care’ of the Netherlands international.
"One of the reasons Jeremie played so many game is because he was the only player, before Mo came back, I had for the right side,” Slot added. “It increases the chance for a player to play but it's also a risk because he's been out quite long this season and now he has to play almost every game and he's, as you can see, an intense player. By that I mean if he runs, he's already sprinting because he's so fast so we have to take good care of him but he's had a big impact since he played."
Federico Chiesa is rated as 50/50 to face Bournemouth after he was withdrawn from the Liverpool bench against Marseille because of a fitness problem. Chiesa’s injury is not serious.
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