Two of Slot’s most important players will miss the forthcoming game at Villa Park.
Arne Slot has a difficult choice to make because Liverpool will be missing two important players before their pivotal match against Aston Villa.
After defeating Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, Liverpool avoided what appeared to be a lull in their title challenge.
The Reds have two tough away games against Aston Villa and new Premier League rivals Manchester City after the challenging game.
However, Liverpool manager Slot has stated that he anticipates missing two important players before the start of the two games, which might be a major issue.
Since legendary manager Jurgen Klopp was replaced in the dugout by Slot over the summer, a number of players have seen notable improvements in their performance.
One such player is Cody Gakpo, who has made 36 appearances across all competitions this season, scoring 16 goals and dishing out five assists. The Dutch manager has been instrumental in helping his countryman regain his form.
However, Slot revealed prior to Wednesday’s game against Villa that the forward will not be eligible for selection. Joe Gomez, the centre back, is also out due to a long-term injury he acquired during the FA Cup encounter against Plymouth Argyle.
The Liverpool manager revealed, “I believe both [Gakpo and Gomez] are unavailable for tomorrow.”
“Joe will take a while to return, and Cody is almost ready. Due to a hamstring injury, he will be absent for several weeks.
“He tries everything to be with the team,” Slot continued about Gomez. He puts in a lot of effort to return, and when he did so for the first game, we watched him sprint after two or three minutes, and now he will be out for weeks once more.
“That’s always really difficult for a player, especially during the part of the season that everyone is anticipating.”
“We expect him to return in the final stretch of the season, but he will miss a significant portion of it.” We still need to evaluate the possibility that he will require surgery.
Due to Gakpo’s unavailability for Wednesday’s match, Slot will have to make a tough choice regarding who will start on the left side of his attack, a position that Gakpo has dominated in recent weeks.
Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz are both anticipated to be available for selection, but it seems like Gakpo’s injury couldn’t have happened at a worse moment given how poorly both players have been playing lately.
