Liverpool player could miss two matches as new Federico Chiesa dilemma approaches
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Trent Alexander-Arnold appears to have avoided a serious injury.
The Liverpool defender was forced off in last weekend’s 2-0 win at AFC Bournemouth. Alexander-Arnold required treatment before informing head coach Arne Slot that he needed to be withdrawn. He was replaced by Conor Bradley as the Reds remained six points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
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Liverpool travelled to the south coast with a full complement of senior players available. Alexander-Arnold is now confined to the treatment room although he won’t be there for too long. It’s suggested that the vice-captain will be out for days rather than weeks but he could be unavailable for Thursday’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Tottenham Hotspur. The Reds head into the showdown trailing 1-0 on aggregate.
If Alexander-Arnold does not feature, it is likely he also won’t be involved in the trip to Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday. The Pilgrims are rooted to the bottom of the Championship table and Slot’s side will be expected to get the job done.
Alexander-Arnold could be the only Liverpool player out injured against Tottenham. Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota were back on the bench at Bournemouth, with the former assisting Mo Salah’s second goal which moved him sixth on the Premier League’s all-time top scorer charts.
Given the lack of fitness issues, Slot omitted Joe Gomez and Federico Chiesa from the squad against the Cherries. Gomez has recently overcome a hamstring issue sustained in a 5-0 win at West Ham United at the end of December.
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Chiesa, meanwhile, was not included after he played 90 minutes for the first time in Liverpool’s 3-2 loss against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League. Slot instead decided to recall Darwin Nunez, who was absent against PSV because of illness despite travelling.
Since arriving from Juventus last summer, Chiesa’s fitness has been carefully managed. Scoring his first goal in the 4-0 win over Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup - a game he did not start because he’d been sick in the build-up - was a confidence booster while he was involved in both goals against PSV.
But Slot has insisted on several occasions that Liverpool have top-quality attacking options ahead of the Italy international in the current pecking order. Speaking last month, the Reds boss said: “Federico was unlucky a few times when moments were there for him to play that he was ill or sick. And then we also saw how difficult it is, Jota is a great example, for a player who has been out for five, six, seven weeks, to bring him back to that load of playing every single game 60-90 minutes.
“You have to be really careful with that if you don’t want to go into another injury, especially because there is no winter break and there is no time during the weeks to give them a game. Unless I have to play them with the U21s, but I don’t think a player like Federico Chiesa or Diogo Jota should play in those games. That makes it hard if a player gets injured to bring them back.”
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