With Joe Gomez and Hugo Ekitike now unavailable, Liverpool have six senior players out injured as they face Everton.
Since signing last summer, we have seen Ekitike and Alexander Isak on the pitch together for just 200 minutes, and we will likely have to wait until 2027 to see the pair partner up again.
A much shorter-term problem for Liverpool comes at right-back, with Gomez once again unavailable.
Liverpool Injury & Absentee List
|Player|Injury Type|Status|Expected Return|
|Joe Gomez|Muscle|Unavailable|Late April|
|Alisson|Hamstring|Unavailable|Late April|
Wataru Endo Ankle Unavailable June
Conor Bradley Knee Unavailable Pre-season
Giovanni Leoni ACL Unavailable Pre-season
Hugo Ekitike Achilles Tendon Rupture Unavailable 2027
Stefan Bajcetic Hamstring Unavailable Unknown
Jayden Danns Hamstring Unavailable Unknown
Having gone off against Paris Saint-Germain as an apparently precautionary measure, Slot has revealed that Gomez will not be able to play against Everton.
The head coach didn’t go into detail so the last update we got on his issue came on Wednesday night.
Slot said: “I wanted to make a different substitution and then he said to me, ‘I’m not convinced if I can keep sprinting, I feel a little bit, so I think it’s better to go off not to take the risk’.
“I think that was my fourth substitution, so to keep someone on who might get injured afterwards is never a smart thing.”
As you will know, Ekitike also got injured against PSG; his Achilles tendon rupture could see him out until 2027.
• READ MORE: Assessing Ekitike: Ex-teammate missed TWO YEARS with Achilles injury
“He hasn’t been operated on yet,” Slot told reporters on Friday.
“Devastating for him. Coming to a new club, having so much impact straight away, playing against your former club in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, with so much to come for him in the summer.
“Your first thoughts are with him being out for such a long time, missing out on so many special moments, but he’s not the first or the last player who has experienced something like this at the start of his career.
“There are so many examples of players that came back even stronger and that’s the challenge he has now.
“I’m 100 percent sure he will be one of those that in 10, 15 years’ time will say maybe his injury even helped him to become stronger, to become even more ready to perform at an even higher level than he did before.”
Liverpool’s available squad vs. Everton
Goalkeepers: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Pecsi
Defenders: Van Dijk, Konate, Frimpong, Kerkez, Robertson, Ramsay
Midfielders: Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Jones, Nyoni
Forwards: Salah, Wirtz, Isak, Gakpo, Chiesa, Ngumoha, Morrison
The only other updates regarding how Liverpool’s squad could look against Everton came as the under-21s beat the i2i Football Academy, in a friendly on Saturday.
Usual starters Calvin Ramsay and Kieran Morrison weren’t involved in the match, which could mean they are in contention to make the first team squad.
Given Liverpool are down a right-back option and attacker in Gomez and Ekitike respectively, it would make sense that the youngsters are promoted to at least be on standby.
Predicted LFC XI: Mamardashvili; Frimpong, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai; Salah, Mac Allister, Gakpo; Isak
Predicted Everton XI: Pickford, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Gueye, Garner, Dewsbury-Hall; Dwight McNeil, Ndiaye, Beto
Liverpool Lineup
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