Liverpool have had more than their fair share of injury problems this season already and have been dealt another blow, ahead of the game against Manchester City.
As reported by James Pearce and David Ornstein for The Athletic: ‘Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate is a fitness doubt for Sunday’s Premier League clash with Manchester City at Anfield.
‘He missed training on Friday due to a muscle problem and was due to undergo further assessment on Saturday, putting his involvement against City in jeopardy.
‘The issue is understood to be minor but Liverpool will not take any chances with a player who only recently returned to action after two months out’.
It’s a real blow for the 23-year-old, who has only recently made his long awaited return from a previous fitness issue and this stumbling block will be hugely frustrating to him and the coaches.
We can take some solace from the fact that the defender seems to only be struggling from minor issues on this occasion and so his time on the sidelines should be brief.
It had been believed that Joe Gomez would fill in for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back but given this problem to our No.5 and with Joel Matip, our No.2 may be forced to move centrally.
It’s unlikely that Jurgen Klopp would hand a debut to Calvin Ramsay against Pep Guardiola’s side and so it looks as though we may have James Milner starting against his old club.
It’s far from ideal for the boss, who will be more than aware that our defensive frailties have been the biggest problem this season already and changing the line-up will not be much help.
We’ll have to wait and see what team he turns out and how long the Frenchman is out for but let’s hope we can get through this weekend unscathed, taking what would be a huge three points.