Xherdan Shaqiri will not return to action until after the November international break, Pepijn Lijnders has confirmed—but Mo Salah has no new ankle injury.
The Reds had to sub Salah off against Tottenham, with some fearing a recurrence of the injury initially suffered against Leicester and which saw the forward miss the trip to Man United recently.
Jurgen Klopp initially allayed those fears, citing that it was more to do with muscle fatigue as he rebuilds strength in the area, and Lijnders has reiterated that, saying it’s nothing more than “precaution” as “the ankle gets more tired” later in games.
It’s not quite as positive news regarding Shaqiri, though, who follows Joel Matip in being unavailable for Liverpool for the forthcoming fixtures.
The Swiss international has barely featured for the Reds this term due to injury, making just four appearances so far, comprising a measly 25 minutes of on-pitch action.
His last outing came in mid-September, a late cameo outing against Napoli, and his calf injury will now see him sidelined for at least a further three weeks.
“Shaq will only be back after the international break,” Lijnders told the club website.
“We want to give him the time. With a calf injury it is always very high risk, especially with his calves.”
In his pre-Arsenal press conference, Lijnders added: “With his calves and problems he had before, reinjury is dangerous. We want to give him time to come back hungry.”
That means the earliest Shaqiri could return would be for Crystal Palace away, on 23 November. Fixtures against Napoli (27 Nov) and Brighton (30 Nov) follow that latest target.
Centre-back Matip is out for at least six weeks, with the Reds assistant boss saying: “Joel’s knee is still irritated—we need to give him time. I don’t know the exact time he will need but it will really need time to heal.”
As the Reds’ squad starts to look a little stretched, a strong showing from a young player or two against Arsenal on Wednesday might be a timely boost for Jurgen Klopp and his options to take into the next handful of games.
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