Arne Slot was speaking after Liverpool beat Manchester City 2-0 at ANfield
Arne Slot has confirmed that Liverpool will be without Ibrahima Konate, Conor Bradley and Kostas Tsimikas for at least their next two matches. The Reds beat Man City at Anfield on Sunday to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table to nine points.
Goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah clinched the victory, with Liverpool overcoming their ongoing injury woes once again to secure an 18th win from Slot’s 20 matches in charge to date.
Konate and Tsimikas were both spotted on crutches at Anfield, with the Frenchman suffering a knee injury late-on in the Reds’ 2-0 win over Real Madrid. Meanwhile, the Greek was also spotted wearing a protective boot after injuring his ankle in training.
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With Bradley injuring his hamstring against the La Liga giants, Slot was left with only five defenders to choose from against Man City. And speaking after the game, he confirmed that will remain the case in the short-term.
“Today I only had five defenders available,” he said. “They will both (Konate and Bradley) be out for a few weeks.
“I have said many times before, it is always difficult to judge how many weeks this exactly is because you can think in the beginning, ‘oh, probably going to be like this,’ and the end stage of an injury process can always differ a bit.
“But they will not be in the team this week for sure, both of them. And actually I don’t think Kostas will be with us in the upcoming week as well.”
Meanwhile, Slot explained such injuries were why he took Trent Alexander-Arnold off after 73 minutes, as the right-back made his own return from a hamstring injury, before praising both Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah for their own performances in the absence of their injured team-mates.
“These players that we have available now, it is important for them now, even more than normal, for them to stay fit,” he said. “And that is why I took Trent off after 70 minutes.
“He was able to play longer. He played a very good game, defended really well again and was a major threat in attack. He played the ball towards Mo which led to the 1-0.
“But knowing that we play Newcastle Wednesday and Saturday in the Merseyside derby with only five available, we have to take care of them.
“And that is why it was so pleasing to see that the ones who came in, Joe and Jarell, did so well. Even Jarell in an unfamiliar position for him.”
