Liverpool boss Arne Slot has delivered a fitness update for the Premier League visit to Nottingham Forest on Sunday
Jeremie Frimpong has not played for Liverpool since going off injured against Qarabag in the Champions League last month
Jeremie Frimpong has not played for Liverpool since going off injured against Qarabag in the Champions League last month(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
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Jeremie Frimpong will remain absent for Liverpool's Premier League clash at Nottingham Forest this weekend - but Reds boss Arne Slot has declared Joe Gomez now ready to start.
Frimpong has been missing since suffering a groin problem during the opening stages of the Champions League win at home to Qarabag three weeks ago.
With Conor Bradley out for the season, Liverpool's right-back options have been further stretched of late, with Gomez having a spell on the sidelines with a hip problem while Wataru Endo suffered a serious injury when starting in the position in the 1-0 Premier League win at Sunderland last Wednesday.
And while Frimpong is again missing for Sunday's trip to Forest, Slot is confident the 25-year-old will be back for the home clash against West Ham United the following weekend.
"Jeremie will not be involved this weekend yet," said the Reds boss on Thursday. "We hope he will be involved next week if things go as planned."
Asked whether Gomez is now ready to start after two successive appearances from the bench, Slot replied: "Yeah, I think he is.
"(But) Wata will be out for a long time, as I said earlier. We don't know exactly how long - but long."
Long-term absentees Alexander Isak and Giovanni Leoni remain sidelined, although Slot has detailed the former made a significant step forward in his rehabilitation this week.
Liverpool were thumped 3-0 at home by Forest back in November at the start of a harrowing week in which they were beaten 4-1 by PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League several days later.
Since then, though, the Reds have lost only two of 19 games in all competitions while progressing to the last 16 of the Champions League and FA Cup, while rekindling hopes of a top-four finish, standing now three points behind Manchester United with 12 games remaining.
And Slot said: "Compared to a few weeks ago, I don’t think a lot has changed. From the last 19 games, we have lost in added time, and twice, we did not deserve to lose either of those games.
"We didn’t need yesterday to know how difficult it is to win a Premier League game. We have experienced this, this season a lot of times and all the teams have experienced it.
"That is what has made the Premier League nicer this season and last season that it is much more competitive than two, three, four, five, six years ago. We have improved compared to three to four months ago.
"We are better than a few months ago and there are two simple reasons - how fit we are now and we are much better in set-pieces, at the moment."