Jeremie Frimpongplaceholder image
Jeremie Frimpong | Getty Images
Liverpool are back in Premier League action this weekend and have a tough test coming up
Liverpool have won their first two games of the new Premier League season. They beat AFC Bournemouth 4-2 at home on the opening day. The Reds then won 3-2 away at Newcastle United last time out.
The Merseyside giants won the title in the last campaign and are aiming to do the same again this time around. Arne Slot was picked as their replacement for Jurgen Klopp last year after catching the eye at Feyenoord. He has since adapted well to life in England and has been a hit.
Arsenal injury news
Liverpool are back in action on Sunday at home to Arsenal as they look to make it three wins on the spin. Starting with the visitors, the Gunners will need to make checks on Martin Odegaard after he went off in their last game against Leeds United. Speaking afterwards, their boss Mikel Arteta said: “Martin felt something in his shoulder when he landed. We don't know, we'll have to scan him tomorrow [Sunday] and understand a bit better. We've been two weeks and we've already lost Kai (Havertz) Martin and Bukayo (Saka), so it tells you how well-equipped you have to be in this league to manage and to maintain the level that we want.”
As Arteta alluded to, Bukayo Saka pulled up against Leeds too with a hamstring issue and is likely to be out, whilst it remains to be seen how long Kai Havertz could potentially be sidelined with his knee issue. They need to make further checks on the pair.
Elsewhere, Arsenal are hoping to welcome back Ben White and new boy Christian Norgaard. The pair weren’t risked against Daniel Farke’s side. Striker Gabriel Jesus remains a long-term absentee and won’t be available until later this year.
Liverpool injury news
Liverpool wing-back Jeremie Frimpong remains in the treatment room with a hamstring problem. They will need to see how he is over the coming days and weigh up whether to include him against Arsenal, with a return after the September international break the expected outcome. Slot won’t want to gamble on his fitness though and will only pick him if he is 100% fit.
Slot has recently said: “It wasn’t out of luxury (not picking him). Jeremie Frimpong felt his hamstring at half-time and made a lot of sprints.”
Liverpool midfielder Alexis MacAllister is poised to feature against Arsenal which is a boost. He had an injury issue during pre-season but is now thought to have recovered from that. Slot has said: “He had to leave the training pitch two days ago and that would not even be the biggest problem if he would have had a proper pre-season, but he missed so many weeks.
“There you bring the base for the whole season and you can see these intensity levels, like we faced last week and this topped it up 10 times, I think. Then you need to be so, so, so fit and then it is always a risk if you bring a player that had a pre-season like this, had to go out two days ago in a training session, in this environment. With such a long season to go, it was too much of a risk for me but I am hoping, hoping things in the upcoming one or two days so that he is available for Sunday."
Continue Reading