Arne Slot reveals new Liverpool injury concern after Chelsea loss - 'felt his quad then alarm bells go off'
Liverpool injury update on Ibrahima Konate after the 2-1 loss against Chelsea in the Premier League.
Arne Slot has revealed a new Liverpool injury concern after the loss to Chelsea.
The Reds suffered a third successive defeat in all competitions - and second late reverse in the Premier League. Chelsea bagged a 96th-minute winner through Estêvão Willian as Liverpool missed out on a chance to return to the top of the table and are one point behind Arsenal.
And to compound Liverpool’s frustrations, Ibrahima Konate was forced off with a fitness issue. Liverpool boss Slot said via BBC Sport: “He felt his quad a bit. Then alarm bells go off with me. If the game had gone on like this I would have made the change a bit later but did not want to take the risk. It wasn't a coincidence when Ryan (Gravenberch) started to play there we started getting more and more in the game."
Konate is due to travel to France for international duty. The centre-back will likely be assessed as to whether he can feature for Les Bleus in World Cup qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Iceland.
Liverpool already have centre-back Giovanni Leoni on the sidelines. The 18-year-old underwent surgery for an ACL injury earlier this week and is expected to be unavailable for at least a year.
The Reds are left to lick their wounds after losing three successive losses. Moises Caicedo opened the scoring for Chelsea with a fine long-range strike. Cody Gakpo levelled for Liverpool in the second half but the visitors switched off at the death, with Estevao turning in at the back post in the sixth minute of stoppage-time.
On the performance, Slot said: "I think two very good teams were on the pitch today. First half unfortunately for us the only chance they had in the first half goes into the top corner. We created three open chances - Kerkez, Dom and Alex with the header - but I felt the game was equal. Second half we started off really well. It wasn't a surprise we equalised. Last 15 minutes it was end to end. We had chances. they had chances to win. In the end we concede a last-minute goal.
"We were the dominant team but in the last 10-15 mins it was end to end, both teams could have scored. Both teams arrived a lot of times at the 18-yard line. These are the margins that don't fall for us at the moment. we have to work harder to not rely on these margins. as I said, Chelsea, Palace away, these are also teams that ask you a lot of questions."