Liverpool could be sweating on three midfielders for Nottingham Forest clash after official statement made

Harvey Elliott has left England under-21s’ squad during the international break.

The attacking midfielder returns to Liverpool for ‘further medical assessment’. Elliott is the captain of the young Lions but will miss their European Championship 2025 qualifier against Northern Ireland on Friday and friendly against Austria on Monday. An England statement said: "Matthew Cox, Tom Fellows and Jonathan Rowe have joined England MU21s ahead of their upcoming fixtures against Northern Ireland and Austria.

"Harvey Elliott, Omari Hutchinson, Jaden Philogene and Sam Tickle initially reported to St George's Park earlier this week but have now returned to their clubs for further medical assessment. Adam Wharton will also play no part in the upcoming fixtures, with the midfielder remaining with his club on medical advice."

Elliott has had limited minutes in Liverpool’s opening three fixtures of the 2024-25 Premier League season. He has made just a seven-minute cameo, which came in the 2-0 win over Brentford and was an unused substitutes in victories against Ipswich Town and Manchester United. Dominik Szoboszlai has been preferred in the attacking-midfield role in Arne Slot’s side so far.

Still, with Liverpool’s Champions League and Carabao Cup campaigns beginning later this month, the head coach will want all of his squad available.

Certainly, Slot will be hoping that Alexis Mac Allister does not come back with a fitness issue. The midfielder has featured in every minute so far this campaign and has jetted off to represent Argentina. However, the 25-year-old has not trained ahead of a World Cup qualifier against Chile tomorrow (01.00 BST).

Manager Lionel Scaloni told TyC Sports: “Alexis didn’t train because he was overloaded, he was in pain. It always happens to us, they come out to do their part. “We’ll wait and see how he responds today. It doesn’t change our way of playing much because we’ll stay the same, but it’s true that he gives us play, set pieces. The rest of the team is more or less decided.”

Meanwhile, Curtis Jones has missed Liverpool’s past two fixtures. The 23-year-old did not train before the Reds’ triumph over Man Utd.

Liverpool will also use the international break to build the fitness of Federico Chiesa. The winger moved to Anfield from Juventus last week but was omitted from the match-day squad against United because of a lack of fitness. Chiesa has not been included in Italy’s squad to ensure he can adapt to his new surroundings and gain match sharpness.