Arne Slot has confirmed that Joe Gomez should return to training for Liverpool before their Premier League clash with Sunderland on Wednesday night.
The champions face a difficult midweek assignment at the Stadium of Light, with the Black Cats the only team who are unbeaten at home in the league this season.
Liverpool’s options at right-back are lacking going into the game, with Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong definitely missing through injury.
Not only that, but Dominik Szoboszlai is absent through suspension after his red card in Sunday’s dramatic 2-1 defeat at home to Manchester City.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday, Slot said that Gomez is expected to train ahead of the game, potentially putting him in contention to feature against Sunderland:
“Joe has not trained with us yet. I’m expecting him to train with us for the first time today. Indeed, if Joe is not ready to start then we are missing four players who have played in that position. But Curtis [Jones] and Wata [Endo] also played in that position this year, so we’ve had six different right full-backs this season.”
Gomez or Jones at right-back for Liverpool vs. Sunderland?
Assuming Gomez proves his fitness in training, Slot has a decision to make at right-back at the Stadium of Light, with the Englishman the leading option alongside Curtis Jones.
If Liverpool’s head coach is feeling cautious, Gomez is the man to turn to, with his defensive expertise making the Reds more solid as a unit.
That said, he will be short of match fitness and doesn’t offer much attacking thrust, with Jones providing more guile from right-back.
As things stand, Jones arguably has the edge because he is fresher and fitter, but playing a midfielder out of position is still far from ideal.
It will be interesting to see if Slot makes any other tweaks to his starting lineup, with the other 10 players potentially staying the same as the City match.
But if Gomez is at right-back and Jones plays in midfield, it could allow Florian Wirtz to be used on the left of the front-three, with Cody Gakpo making way and coming on as an impact substitute.