Liverpool pair miss training ahead of West Ham as Arne Slot makes new Diogo Jota fitness admission

Arne Slot has admitted that Liverpool are continuing to be cautious with Diogo Jota’s fitness.

The striker recently returned from a rib injury that sidelined him for almost two months. Before his setback, Jota was first choice to lead the Reds’ attack. He has made four appearances since coming back to fitness - all from the substitutes’ bench.

The latest arrived in the 3-1 win over Leicester City on Boxing Day. Darwin Nunez spearheaded the attack but he has not scored in the Premier League in the past six matches. However, given the nature of Jota’s issue, Liverpool will continue to act with caution. Speaking ahead of Sunday’s trip to West Ham, Slot told reporters: “We’re still managing his fitness. He has been out for quite a long time and he couldn’t train that much.

“Sometimes if a player has an injury he can do a lot, but he couldn’t do a lot for quite a long time. Since this league is so intense, it’s not so easy if you are almost two months out to come in and play from the start again.

“You need to have some minutes to build this up. And he is in competition with some other special players as well who are at this moment also on top of their game. He is gradually building it up and I think he comes close to starting a game, but like I said, he has competition in this position as well.”

Meanwhile, Ibrahima Konate (knee) and Conor Bradley (hamstring) will again miss out. The defensive duo have been sidelined for the past month and are still to return to training. Slot added: They will not be back for West Ham United. Then there is a week in between. Let’s see how close they are then.

“It is difficult to tell you at this moment because they don’t train with the group yet. Hopefully in the upcoming days they come closer to that situation.

“But then again, Ibou has been out for five or six weeks maybe, Conor just as long, and they are in competition with players who are completely fit and doing really well so I have to make the right judgement the moment they are back with the team.”

Liverpool will also be without Dominik Szoboszlai against West Ham. He must serve a one-game suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card in the Premier League against Leicester.