Andoni Iraola has provided injury updates on several Liverpool players ahead of the Carabao Cup fixture against Chelsea on Wednesday night.
The Reds managed to defeat Brighton on Sunday without Dominik Szoboszlai, Victor Munoz and Jeremie Frimpong, along with long-term absentees Hugo Ekitike and Conor Bradley, and Florian Wirtz hobbled off with an ankle problem midway through the second half at Anfield.
The German reassured Kopites that the issue which ended his involvement against the Seagulls isn’t a serious one, and his boss has now given an update on the 23-year-old’s fitness prior to tomorrow night’s cup clash.
Liverpool injury updates for Chelsea clash
Iraola held his pre-match press conference on Tuesday lunchtime ahead of the Chelsea game, and he was prompted for updates on some of Liverpool’s injured players.
The Basque replied (via liverpoolfc.com): “I don’t think I can help you a lot. We still have to wait; we train later. We want to [use] this last day [before the match].
“He was quite fine, Florian – I’m quite optimistic that he will be available. With Dom and Victor, I’m not so sure. I don’t want to say no, but I think it’s going to be more difficult than Florian, yes.”
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How heavily will Iraola rotate for tomorrow night?
We can probably take it as read that Szoboszlai and Munoz won’t be involved against Chelsea if the timeframe for their recoveries is so tight, with Iraola perhaps best advised to hold off on deploying either of them before the Arsenal match next weekend.
However, the head coach’s comments on Wirtz suggest that the German could at least be in the matchday squad tomorrow night, with his ankle injury thankfully proving to be minor. How much of a risk the boss will want to take with the 23-year-old is another matter.
Even had our number 7 been fully fit, we’d suspect that he might drop to the bench after playing abundantly since the international break and be given a chance to recharge before the Premier League showdown against the Gunners.
Iraola also told reporters today that ‘there will definitely be changes’ to the line-up to face Chelsea (liverpoolfc.com), although John Aldridge cited last year’s meek Carabao Cup exit to Crystal Palace as a warning to the Basque not to overdo it with squad rotation.
We’re confident that the Reds boss will be able to switch out a few players and still field a strong enough starting XI to advance to the quarter-finals of the competition, even though Xabi Alonso’s side will undoubtedly provide a stern test.