Arne Slot reveals he could receive Liverpool triple injury boost 'today' as Richard Hughes 'deserves credit'

Arne Slot delivered a positive update on his injured players this morning ahead of Liverpool’s upcoming clash with Bournemouth at the weekend. The Reds will return to Premier League action on Saturday after finishing top of the Champions League standings midweek.

Despite their defeat against PSV, Liverpool’s previous seven wins were enough to see them finish first in the new league format in Europe’s top competition. With automatic qualification to the knockouts already in the bag, Slot fielded a heavily rotated starting 11, featuring the likes of Jayden Danns, James McConnell and Federico Chiesa.

Focus now shifts back to the fight for the Premier League title. Liverpool have a six-point lead over closest rivals Arsenal as things stand but an impressive Bournemouth side awaits them at the Vitality Stadium tomorrow.

During his pre-match press conference, Slot discussed his squad decisions against PSV and gave an update on the fitness levels of Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota.

Liverpool vs Bournemouth latest injury updates

Gomez has been out of action since last month after suffering a hamstring injury against West Ham. Jota also faced a setback after coming on to score the equaliser against Nottingham Forest, and has not featured since. Darwin Núñez missed the PSV clash due to illness, meanwhile, Jones was substituted off at half-time against Lille and has been waiting to make his return. The latter was not mentioned during Slot’s response, though, suggesting Jones could still be out of training.

“All three of them [Gomez, Jota, Núñez] are in training today, so the question is, are they far enough to join us for Bournemouth?” Slot revealed. “That’s something we will have to wait and see today. We have more than 20 players available, so we have to make the smartest decision for them but also for winning the game tomorrow.”

Aside from the mentioned four players, Liverpool have no other injury concerns and will the enter the clash with a strong squad to select from. They will come up against the in-form Justin Kluivert, who Slot praised during his press conference.

“He’s one of the many examples Richard [Hughes] deserves a lot of credit for,” the manager said, patting his sporting director on the back for his previous business with the Cherries.

Arne Slot discusses resting players vs PSV

After fielding a heavily rotated side against PSV midweek, Slot was asked about his decision to rest a number of usual first team players for the Champions League clash.

“You could say I rested a lot of players but you can also say I played the ones that needed playing time. I was really pleased with how they performed against PSV.”

Chiesa made a start at right-wing and played the full 90 minutes, which sparked the question whether the summer signing is ready to start seeing more action in the Premier League, having initially struggled for game time after joining the club.

“Of course he’s ready for more minutes in the Premier League. If he can play 90 at Champions League level, then he can play an amount of minutes in the Premier League,” Slot said. “His main problem, if you want to call it a problem, is that he is in competition with Luis Díaz, Darwin Núñez, Cody Gakpo, Mo Salah and Diogo Jota. I think you would agree with me that they are doing quite well also.”

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