It will be a Liverpool reunion for Fulham manager Alvaro Arbeloa, but things are not going to be easy for him, and Reds boss Andoni Iraola
IPSWICH, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 04: Cody Gakpo of Liverpool reacts after sustaining an injury during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Ipswich Town and Liverpool FC at Portman Road on September 04, 2026 in Ipswich, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Cody Gakpo is one player who will be absent for Liverpool(Image: Justin Setterfield, Getty Images)
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Eight players will be missing when Fulham manager Alvaro Arbeloa reunites with his former side Liverpool at Anfield. The former Reds defender takes his team to Merseyside in desperate need of a positive result.
Fulham have been defeated in all three of their Premier League matches, losing to Chelsea, Sunderland and Crystal Palace. Meanwhile, Liverpool are gathering momentum under Iraola.
Liverpool
The primary concern for Liverpool centres on the fitness of Cody Gakpo. The forward sat out the victory over Atletico and faces a late fitness assessment ahead of the Fulham fixture.
"Cody we will see. He didn't train yesterday," Iraola said. "Today we will try with him and let's see if he's ready for tomorrow or we need to wait for the next one."
Should he fail to prove his fitness, he will join defender Joe Gomez on the treatment table. The England man sustained an injury during pre-season and has yet to return to the first-team squad.
While he is edging closer to a comeback, this weekend's fixture may arrive too soon for him. Federico Chiesa is also anticipated to be unavailable having picked up a muscle injury in the latter stages of pre-season. There is currently no indication of when he will make his return.
Three further longer-term injury concerns remain sidelined, with Giovani Leoni, Conor Bradley and Hugo Ekitike all continuing their respective rehabilitation programmes.
In an encouraging boost for Iraola, he has confirmed that summer signing Bradley Barcola is expected to be fit after being substituted with cramp during the victory over Atletico. "We still need to train this afternoon. Barcola was just cramps. We have to evaluate how he is today, but there's no injury. He should, I think, be available, if everything goes normal."
Fulham
Fulham have relatively little to concern themselves with on the injury front, with just two players expected to sit out the match. Club captain Tom Cairney will be absent as he continues his recovery from a minor knee procedure last month.
Young striker Jonah Kusi-Asare is yet to feature in any matchday squad this season. He has made 10 first-team appearances for the club, and was hampered by a knee injury last season.
Alvaro Arbeloa, manager of Fulham, gives instructions to his team during the Premier League match between Sunderland and Fulham at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, United Kingdom, on August 30, 2026. (Photo by Alfie Cosgrove/News Images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Arbeloa has endured a difficult start to life at Fulham(Image: NurPhoto, NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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The match will pit Arbeloa against Iraola, a man he knows well from their time together in Spain. "I played with Andoni in the national team, and obviously we faced each other many, many times in La Liga.
"I know him very, very well. I saw him when he was the coach of Mirandés, Rayo Vallecano, and after in Bournemouth, so I know that he's an amazing coach, and I'm not surprised that now he's the coach of Liverpool.
"He has been doing amazing work here in the Premier League, and now in Liverpool you can see they are playing in the style that he's always playing with his teams, and of course it will be so difficult for us tomorrow."
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