Why Curtis Jones and Stefan Bajcetic are absent for Liverpool vs Brentford

Liverpool have made one change for the visit of Brentford but both Stefan Bajcetic and Curtis Jones are missing from the matchday squad.

While Slot’s Thursday press conference was positive from a team news standpoint, today’s squad has seen Jones miss out. Spotted in a recent video of Liverpool’s training of this week, the midfielder was seen holding his groin and reports have confirmed that a minor injury has ruled him out of action today. Slot spoke to the media to confirm the injury: "He picked up a little injury during the week and missed a few training sessions, so he's not available to play."

He was on the bench last weekend and failed to come on but he was a regular feature across pre-season, playing against Real Betis, Manchester United, Arsenal and Las Palmas.

In other news, 19-year-old Bajcetic is also not in the squad. Reports have speculated that he could exit the club on loan. One report has claimed that Real Sociedad, Villarreal, Las Palmas and Valencia are suitors from La Liga, while two unnamed Premier League clubs are in the mix for a deal with him. And his absence today suggests that he could on the way out. However, Celta Vigo were reported to be considering a loan for Bajcetic, and the manager of his former club, Claudio Giralde, has now confirmed that interest. Giralde said, via La Voz de Galicia: “The market is open, and he’s one more possibility. He is a player that I know, who knows the club, that we have trained, and he is one more possibility. We’ll see what happens.”

Arne Slot has reinstated Konate to the starting line-up after he impressed in the second-half last weekend against Ipswich Town. Jarell Quansah has been dropped to the bench as a result after he was withdrawn at half-time last weekend against Ipswich as the Frenchman replaced him.

Slot publicly addressed the situation in the aftermath of the game, revealing that he lost a few key duels which resulted in Liverpool struggling to control the game in the manager’s opinion - and he was asked about situation in regards to facing Brentford at Anfield and he confirmed they have discussed the situation but a minor knock could see him miss out.

"[He reacted] in a way you would expect a player to react. I spoke to him immediately after the game, I spoke to him the day after. At the end of that conversation he asked if he could train on Sunday. So he should have done recovery, he wanted to train. Unfortunately, I think, on Tuesday, that he picked up a bit of an injury, so he couldn't train on Wednesday, we will see if he can train today.

"He reacted in a way that every player should react. I don't think there was that much in to it, although. Maybe the language was a problem, what I said was that he did not lose every duel, but he lost one or two important ones, one of them just before half-time. From what's been told to me it sounds like what I said was that he lost every duel."