Pep Lijnders has now confirmed the rough return dates of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota, Curtis Jones and Alisson Becker.
The No.17 is ‘probably’ set for a return ‘around the international’ break, whilst the remaining trio will be out of action until after March 27.
“And all the others, we know it’s longer. Ali has a muscle injury. Trent, LCL. Jota, medial ligament, MCL. Curtis [has] a high ankle sprain. They will be longer out,” the assistant manager informed reporters at Liverpool’s pre-match presser (via liverpoolfc.com). “Curtis is probably the first one [to come back] around the international break. All the others will be after the international break.”
The Merseysiders are set to take on Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final this weekend, with Dominik Szoboszlai, Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez being closely monitored ahead of the tie.
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How many games could be missed?
It’s safe to assume that Alisson Becker wouldn’t have played a part in either of our upcoming cup fixtures against Chelsea and Southampton.
The group at large, however, will be huge misses for potentially as many as five games across all competitions in March:
March 2: Nottingham Forest (A)
March 7: Sparta Prague (A)
March 10: Manchester City (H)
March 14: Sparta Prague (H)
March 17: Everton (A)
You’d back us to still take maximum points without our first-choice shotstopper and fellow key options against most of the opponents on the table.
That said, it’s going to ask a lot of the squad to secure the lion’s share of the points against Manchester City in mid-March.