Liverpool and Newcastle both have a relatively clean bill of health heading into the midweek meeting at Anfield. But it’s unclear whether Gakpo and Jota are ready to start
Liverpool will be without three players for its Premier League clash against Newcastle United on Wednesday night.
Arne Slot confirmed in his pre-match press conference that Conor Bradley won’t be back in time for the game against the Magpies at Anfield
Conor doesn’t [train with us], he will be out for a few weeks. I cannot tell exactly how many but it was clear he went off with a muscle injury. That’s going to take a while before he is back,” the Liverpool boss explained.
The Northern Irish defender first sustained the issue against Aston Villa and had to be replaced just 23 minutes after his introduction from the bench. He missed Sunday’s win over Manchester City as a result and also looks to be a major doubt for the trip to Paris Saint-Germain next week
He joins Joe Gomez and Tyler Morton on the sidelines after both underwent surgery on respective injuries earlier this month.
Elsewhere, Slot confirmed on Tuesday that Alexis Mac Allister will be available to face Newcastle after being spotted with a black eye in the wake of the win at the Etihad. But there was no update on whether Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota are available to start for the league leaders
The former suffered an ankle injury in the 2-2 draw against Everton two weeks ago and missed the Wolverhampton Wanderers and Villa games but returned to training at the weekend and came off the bench in the latter stages against City.
As for Jota, Slot said on Sunday : “Diogo Jota told me yesterday that he wasn’t fully recovered yet, so he couldn’t start.”
It comes after the Portugal international started back-to-back games against Wolves and Villa. Slot has repeatedly referenced the need to be careful and manage Jota’s minutes in what has been an injury-ravaged campaign. Prior to the Wolves match, the 28-year-old hadn’t started a league match in nearly four months
As for Newcastle, it is without Jamaal Lascelles, but Sven Botman and Joelinton could return.
“Sven’s improving and he’s improving quickly, so we’ll see whether he makes the game or not,” Eddie Howe said ahead of the game. “He’ll be close. Again with Joe, similar to Sven, really improving, doing really well, pushing and again he’s another player that will be quite close.
Sandro Tonali is also available to start again after beginning the 4-3 win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday on the bench