Arne Slot confirms one definite Liverpool starter against Man Utd - as three players could miss clash

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Liverpool team news ahead of the Premier League fixture against Man Utd.

Arne Slot has admitted that Joe Gomez is set for a sustained spell on the Liverpool

The centre-back suffered a hamstring issue in the Reds’ 5-0 victory over West Ham United last week. Gomez had been deputising for Ibrahima Konate, who has been absent with a knee issue. And after having to be patient for his Liverpool chance in his favoured position, Gomez is set to miss the clash against Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday.

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However, Konate and Conor Bradley (hamstring) are due to be in training today. The pair have been absent for the past month and will need to be assessed as to whether they are deemed ready to return to the match-day squad to face bitter rivals United.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, head coach Slot said: “Joe is not in a good place. He is out for a few weeks. Conor and Ibou will train with us. curious to see where they are up to but the next step is always how you handle team sessions. We trained yesterday and assume everyone is fit. It is a period where people get sick but I have not heard that. Hopefully everyone except Joe is available.”

Liverpool face a United side who are in dire form. The Red Devils are 14th in the Premier League - some 23 points adrift of Arne Slot’s leaders. Given the troubles of United, who have lost their previous four games in all competitions, Slot was asked if there if a possibility of rotating his side. However, he paid respect to the United players and believes that they are in a false league position.

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Slot said: “That's a strange question. No, of course I'm not going to plan to rest any player. I've said it before and I'll say it again, they have much better players than the table shows. It might take Ruben [Amorim] a little while, but they'll come back. They're much better than the table shows.”

Slot also confirmed that Trent Alexander-Arnold is set to start for Liverpool. That is despite the Reds rebuffing interest from Real Madrid over a potential January move, with the right-back’s contract expiring in the summer. Slot added: “I can tell you he is playing on Sunday and hopefully he brings the same performances as he brought in for the last half-year, because everybody saw how great a first half of the season he had, how much he is here, how much he wants to win here.

“I see him on the training ground every day working his ass off. He is fully committed to us and he will play on Sunday. If it would destabilise players at Liverpool if other people talk about them, then we would really have a problem because if you play at one of the biggest clubs in the world everybody is always – for 12 months long – talking about you, sometimes in relation to other clubs.

“That happens so many times for our players, so if that destabilises them then we really would have had a problem, not only now but in the last six months because there were some talks about our players in the last six months and I don’t think it destabilised them at all.”

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