Arne Slot delivers Alexander Isak injury update as Liverpool boss plays down Hugo Ekitike fitness concerns ahead of Man City and PSG clashes

Brighton & Hove Albion v Liverpool - Premier League

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has issued an update on Alexander Isak's fitness after Hugo Ekitike was injured in the club's dismal defeat to Brighton on Saturday. The former Eintracht Frankfurt striker had to be withdrawn within the first 10 minutes after sustaining a dead leg, while Isak has been out since December's clash with Tottenham.

Slot expects Isak back soon

Liverpool were dealt a double whammy on Saturday as Ekitike was withdrawn within the first 10 minutes, and the Reds went on to lose the game 2-1 in a major blow to their Champions League qualification ambitions. Ekitike appeared to suffer a dead leg in a challenge with James Milner, but the Reds may be somewhat relieved to learn that Isak is on his way back; the Sweden international has not played for the club since their clash with Spurs in December, when he broke his leg. However, he may now make his long-awaited comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League next month, after the international break. 

Slot said: “Alex will available [for PSG], yes. The question is what you mean around ‘being ready.’

“If you want to have the player who played exactly a year ago against us in the Carabao Cup final and was too good for us on that day, then I would tell you I have my doubts about that after seven or eight months out.

“But I expect that I can use him for minutes. Exactly what I get from that I cannot tell you because he hasn’t trained with the team even once.”

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Liverpool boss downplays Ekitike worries

Slot has pointed out that Liverpool had to face Brighton without the injured Alisson Becker and Mohamed Salah, and says he is unsure when the former will be back, but he has somewhat allayed fears over Ekitike's lay-off. 

He added: "Alisson will definitely be out during the international break and let's see afterwards. Hugo, I think he could play tomorrow if he needed to. It was a dead leg, as you call it here I think. Brighton did what we expected. If you face a team that has only had 62 hours of rest and the first thing you do is make it an intense game, play the first duels, play tough duels – nothing wrong with the duels, by the way – but unfortunately it was a collision and that led to Hugo going out. Yeah, that's not helpful after two minutes.

"You have to continue without one of the best strikers that the league has seen in the last three or four years already not available throughout the whole season, Alexander Isak. One of the best goalscorers the league has seen in the last eight years not being available with Mo Salah. And then missing out on Hugo Ekitike, who has had a lot of impact this season, him being out.

"And then as so many [times] this season you have to find a way of playing players in positions they are maybe not used to and in the first half I think we did this quite well. But as the game went on, Brighton became stronger and stronger. A few times this season we were able to maybe let something happen off the bench. Rio [Ngumoha] had a few very nice actions but throughout the second half I think they were closer scoring the 3-1 than we were scoring the 2-2."

'Not easy' to solve Reds' form

Liverpool have been struggling for form and have not won any of their last three Premier League games, and Slot accepts that he faces a challenge in bringing them back to their usual level. 

He added: "Yeah, that is not easy, although we had a big win [against Galatasaray] during the week. I think you cannot compare Brighton away with Wolves away. You cannot compare a game that we should have won in terms of chance creation and every other metric there is in football to a game like here. Brighton away, that's a difficult game for any team, [not just] for us, but for any team to go here, especially if you miss out like us on a few very influential players. We're talking about the No.9 position but again I had to make a substitution and a full-back position with a player that's not used to playing there. Of course, now looking at the league table, this loss hurts a lot and it should hurt us a lot.

"But the main problem is that we are in this position because we dropped points at Wolves in the last minute with a deflected shot a week ago – not a week ago because we had to play on Sunday, not on Saturday, but Sunday and then Wednesday and then Saturday. Not as all the other Champions League teams [are] playing on Sunday, but we had to play on Saturday in the early kick-off. That goal last week [against Tottenham] in the 90th minute is, I would say, even a bigger problem than losing away at Brighton."

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What comes next?

Liverpool face Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup after the international break, before then facing PSG in what could be Isak's comeback game. They do not play in the Premier League again until April 11, when they welcome to Fulham to Anfield.