{"id":498360,"date":"2026-01-07T07:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T07:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/498360\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T07:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T07:10:11","slug":"liverpool-could-be-without-five-players-for-arsenal-after-injury-setback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/498360\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool could be without five players for Arsenal after injury setback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arne Slot is waiting for an update on the fitness of his Liverpool players ahead of the Premier League clash against Arsenal\"LiverpoolLiverpool head coach Arne Slot(Image: Jacques Feeney\/Offside\/Offside via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Liverpool are back in action on Thursday evening with the trip to runaway Premier League<\/a> leaders Arsenal. And the Reds are still waiting to discover exactly who they can call upon for the game against the odds-on title favourites.<\/p>\n

The biggest question mark is over the fitness of Hugo Ekitike.<\/strong> The France international, who is Liverpool’s top scorer with season with 11 goals, missed the 2-2 draw at Fulham on Sunday due to a hamstring complaint.<\/p>\n

Reds head coach Arne Slot, though, is hopeful the striker will be available for the clash at the Emirates.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Pep Guardiola drops Man City transfer hint over Marc Guehi as Liverpool stance explained<\/a>READ MORE: Oliver Glasner changes tune about Marc Guehi transfer as Man City could force Liverpool’s hand<\/a><\/p>\n

“It\u2019s not a big surprise he gets a bit of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness),” said Slot.<\/p>\n

“We were hoping it would be DOMS and we could have used him as a sub but, unfortunately, we saw a bit more and couldn\u2019t take a risk.”<\/p>\n

Ekitike’s availability would be a major bonus with Alexander Isak <\/strong>out for several months as he recovers from surgery on an ankle injury that included a fractured fibula after being caught by Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven when scoring Liverpool’s opener in the 2-1 away win before Christmas.<\/p>\n

Florian Wirtz<\/strong> is expected to continue after being able to feature and score at Fulham despite suffering similar hamstring soreness over the Christmas period.<\/p>\n

However, Mohamed Salah<\/strong><\/a> remains on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Egypt having this week progressed to the quarter-finals while teenage centre-back Giovanni Leoni<\/strong> is ruled out for the season after ACL surgery in September.<\/p>\n

Wataru Endo<\/strong> also remains unavailable having missed the last month with an ankle complaint sustained in the 3-3 draw at Leeds United.<\/p>\n

Arsenal, meanwhile, will be without three players. Defenders Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera are sidelined along with 16-year-old rising star Max Dowman.<\/p>\n

For the latest Liverpool FC news and breaking news, visit liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/liverpool-fc<\/a>. Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you.<\/p>\n

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Sign up for one of the Liverpool Echo’s free daily and weekly newsletters on Liverpool by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arne Slot is waiting for an update on the fitness of his Liverpool players ahead of the Premier…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":498361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[4426,1836,221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-498360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-arne-slot","9":"tag-liverpool-fc","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115852569674504390","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}