Liverpool boss Arne Slot makes fresh Thursday comment on Trent Alexander-Arnold's fitness ahead of Newcastle

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has been speaking ahead of his first final since joining Liverpool last summer. The Reds take on Newcastle United at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final as they look to successfully defend the trophy after beating Chelsea last season.

Virgil van Dijk headed home deep into extra time at Wembley last year as an injury-hit Liverpool side defied the odds to hand Jurgen Klopp his final piece of silverware in charge of the Reds. Liverpool head into the final with question marks over the fitness of star right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The defender fell awkwardly in the Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night and was forced off during the second half. No diagnosis has been provided as of yet but Slot has made a fresh comment on the player’s fitness.

Slot on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s fitness

In an exclusive interview on Liverpool’s club website on Thursday, Slot was asked about how preparations for the final had been impacted by some injury and suspension blows to Newcastle United. Anthony Gordon is banned for the game while Lewis Hall is out with injury.

In his latest update, Slot also said that he was still waiting to see how Alexander-Arnold was ahead of Sunday. He said: “I think in this part of the season every team misses players so we will miss a few as well. That’s normal. The good thing about the Premier League is that almost every team has a lot of money so they have more than only 11 good players. We are an example of that but Newcastle is also an example of that.

“So, yes, I think Eddie would have loved to play Anthony Gordon, but let’s wait [and see] how Trent [Alexander-Arnold] is on Sunday but if he is not available then I would have loved to have played Trent as well. And if he’s not available then I would have loved to play Conor [Bradley], who is certainly not available, and then again, when it comes to the Premier League, I still have Jarell Quansah, who played a great game [against PSG] when he came in. So, that tells you the quality of every squad in the Premier League – for us, but also for Newcastle.”

What else did Slot say ahead of the final?

Liverpool played Newcastle in the Premier League just a matter of weeks ago. The Reds won that game 2-0 with the Magpies missing star striker Alexander Isak for that game. Asked if playing Howe’s side recently helped with preparation, Slot said: “Yeah, it’s always helpful – but it’s also helpful for both teams because players have felt the quality of the other team. That’s why I am always more interested in the second leg in Europe than in the first leg because then both managers know what to expect, both teams know what to expect, and then you are interested to see how is the second leg? Where did we win things and where did the other team do better? That’s why, again, I was so happy with our performance on Tuesday.

“Now, looking at Newcastle, we played them twice. In the last game [Alexander] Isak wasn’t involved, in the first game he was involved. He is such an important player for them, he’s an unbelievable threat and has the speed that, for example, the attackers of Paris Saint-Germain had on Tuesday as well and they were more than I would have liked in front of Ali [Alisson Becker] during the two games we have played them. So, we need to do even better than we did [on Tuesday] if you look at the way we have to defend the counter-attacks. But for large parts of the [PSG] game, over 90 minutes I couldn’t have asked for more.”