Image Credits: Imago Images
Liverpool’s miserable Sunday at Anfield has spilled into their midweek plans, with Dominik Szoboszlai now confirmed to miss Wednesday’s trip to Sunderland through suspension.
The Hungarian midfielder opened the scoring with a stunning 30-yard free-kick before being shown a straight red card in stoppage time for hauling down Erling Haaland as the Norwegian bore down on goal. VAR intervened in a chaotic finale that also saw a Rayan Cherki goal disallowed, but nothing could prevent City completing a dramatic 2-1 comeback thanks to Bernardo Silva’s 84th-minute equaliser and Haaland’s penalty deep into added time.
Szoboszlai’s red card was for denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity, meaning he serves just a one-match ban rather than the standard three-game suspension. He will be available again for the FA Cup clash with Brighton on February 14.
However, the bigger concern for Arne Slot is at right-back. Szoboszlai had been deployed in that position against City due to a mounting injury crisis, and with both Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley unavailable for the Sunderland match, the Reds boss faces a genuine selection headache.
Frimpong continues to recover from a hamstring injury sustained in the Champions League win over Qarabag, while Bradley has been ruled out for the season with a knee ligament injury suffered during the goalless draw at Arsenal in January.
That leaves only Joe Gomez as a natural right-back option. However, speaking in his post-game press conference on Sunday, Slot revealed he is not expecting the defender to return in time for Wednesday night:
“Jeremie for sure not, we knew this when he got injured that this was a few weeks,” he said.
“To be honest I don’t expect Joe to be back Wednesday, but you never know. But then he’s back after being out for three weeks. Would you play him then? You say no, but you don’t have to make the decision, I do!”
“Let’s see what decision we make, but we have other players who can play that position as well.”
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