Liverpool have been dealt a major blow with the news that Joel Matip could miss up to six weeks with a knee injury.
The 28-year-old centre-back has missed three of the Reds’ last four games with the issue, but until now little had been reported on the timeframe of the extent of the injury.
Speaking last week, Jurgen Klopp had said: “It is just a little thing which usually settles in the two weeks; it did, but then it came up after the United game.
“It is not a massive injury, it’s just a bit annoying.”
Now, the Standard‘s David Lynch has broken the news that Matip is facing up to six weeks on the sidelines.
It’s a major blow for a player who has been beset by injuries throughout his three seasons at Anfield, this being his seventh since arriving from Schalke in 2015.
Matip will now miss up to 10 games, including the huge clash against Man City at Anfield in a fortnight.
Dejan Lovren has deputised alongside Virgil van Dijk for the last two games, but Joe Gomez could seize the opportunity to return to the heart of the Reds’ defence.
The knock-on effect of this in the immediacy is that it will be interesting to see who does and who doesn’t start against Arsenal in the League Cup on Wednesday night, with Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa in mind.
Klopp is short of defensive options though for the Arsenal game, with Van Dijk needing to be rested and no full-back cover due to Ki-Jana Hoever being away with the Netherlands at the Under-17 World Cup.
James Milner is almost certainly set to start in defence, either at right- or left-back. Gomez or Lovren will be one centre-back, but beyond that the options are slim.
Academy left-back Yasser Larouci and right-back Neco Williams trained with the first-team squad on Monday and one of them could get a debut for the club.
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