Trent Alexander-Arnold is set to miss Liverpool‘s Premier League clash against Manchester City at Anfield on Saturday after suffering a groin injury in training.
The 22-year-old started and played the full 90 minutes of Saturday’s 3-3- draw against Brentford and was a notable absentee from Liverpool’s squad for their Champions League tie against Porto in Portugal.
Speaking before the Porto game, Jurgen Klopp confirmed that the injury is more serious than first feared and admitted that the right back is unlikely to feature against the Premier League champions this weekend.
When asked by BT Sport whether Alexander-Arnold is injured, Klopp replied: “Yeah, unfortunately. It was shortly after training and Trent went in a little bit earlier and it didn’t look that serious. Then we did a further assessment and in the end, it was serious. He’s out for today for sure, he didn’t travel with us, and it doesn’t look great for the City game as well.”
He added: “It’s a muscle thing with the adductor. We thought he was just a bit tired after the game [against Brentford] but it was more and now we have to deal with that.”
Alexander-Arnold has made seven appearances for club and country this season but missed Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Crystal Palace earlier this month after suffering a non-Covid related illness.
Klopp has greater depth in defence this season compared to last, with Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, Nat Phillips and summer signing Ibrahima Konate competing for places in the middle, with Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas vying for the left back spot.
However, Alexander-Arnold’s injury will be a concern for Klopp given his understudy Neco Williams is yet to feature this season after only recently recovering from an injury himself. The versatile veteran James Milner has been deployed at right back in the two games that Alexander-Arnold has missed.
If Alexander-Arnold’s injury is as serious as Klopp has suggested, he may not be able to return until after England’s World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Hungary next month.
Fantasy Premier League replacements
News of Alexander-Arnold’s setback will have left over a third of Fantasy Premier League managers frustrated as he is currently the second-most popular defender in the game ahead of the Gameweek 7 deadline.
Manchester United’s Luke Shaw is the only defender currently selected by more managers and his ownership is likely to dwindle after he too suffered an injury during last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa.
Managers looking to offload Alexander-Arnold and Shaw or even both may be inclined to turn to Chelsea for replacements, given the Blues have a promising run of fixtures to come.
Cesar Azpilicueta (£6m) and Antonio Rudiger (£5.7m) probably offer the safest routes into Thomas Tuchel’s backline, but Marcos Alonso (£5.9m) is a more exciting pick given his attacking tendencies. Alonso is the second-highest scoring defender in the game this season, averaging 6.5 points per match.
The player keeping Alonso off top spot is Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo (£6.1m) who has racked up 30 points over the past three gameweeks. Cancelo has a tricky fixture this weekend as City face Liverpool at Anfield, but he could be a great pick for subsequent matches against Burnley, Brighton and Crystal Palace.
Alternatively, Alexander-Arnold’s Liverpool teammates, Virgil van Dijk (£6.6m) and Andy Robertson (£7.0m) could come under consideration. Liverpool have a tricky run of games, though, as they face City, Manchester United, this season’s surprise package Brighton and West Ham in the next five gameweeks.
Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney (£4.9m) and Wolves wing-back Nelson Semedo (£4.9m) are cheaper options to consider as their teams also feature high up on the FPL fixture difficulty rating chart.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2Y5xy7S
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