Liverpool are desperate to win their 20th league title in the English top-flight football, but they will be doing that without the presence of starting right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold for the next three weeks, after the England international has been ruled out in the near future due to a torn knee ligament suffered during the match between Arsenal vs. Liverpool in the FA Cup Third Round clash last weekend. The news on Trent Alexander-Arnold was confirmed by the Kop via their official website earlier this week.
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s Performance in 2023/2024 Thus Far
The 25-year-old Trent Alexander-Arnold played a total of 25 games in all competitions for Liverpool in the 2023/2024 Season thus far, including the full 90 minutes plus added time in Jürgen Klopp’s team’s 2-0 win over Arsenal in the Third Round of the oldest football competition in the world, the FA Cup at the Emirates. In those 25 games that spread across four competitions, Trent Alexander-Arnold provided two goals and nine assists, including the influential effort that led to Jakub Kiwior’s own goal opener in the Arsenal-Liverpool clash last time around.
If we insert these stats into Trent Alexander-Arnold’s entire senior career for Liverpool, the defender currently has 18 goals and 81 assists in 298 appearances in all tournaments for the Reds, meaning he is only one tally shy from a century of goal contribution (Goals + assists) and is likely to achieve the milestone some time after his return from the current knee ligament injury that will keep him away from the pitch for three weeks.
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Trent Alexander-Arnold Could Miss Kop’s Next Four or Five Games
Pepijn Lijnders, Liverpool’s assistant manager from the Netherlands, confirmed the injury blow to Trent Alexander-Arnold, saying that “First of all, some not-that-good news, Trent hyperextended his knee during the last game. So he has a little tear in the lateral ligament of his knee and he will need time to recover. He had a scan and he will be out for a few weeks, so let’s see after that. He will get some rest and then hopefully he can come back to where he was. Because this guy was decisive in all the games and was the one who created constantly for us from deep and gave the team a high level of flexibility. We will really miss him”.
A spell off the pitch for three weeks will see the Liverpool’s vice captain and England right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold miss the club’s two-legged EFL Cup Semifinal matchups against Fulham, a FA Cup Fourth Round clash as well as one or two English Premier League encounters against Bournemouth and Chelsea respectively.
Liverpool’s English Premier League title contenders Manchester City recently welcomed the return of their skipper Kevin De Bruyne to the team, and the Belgium will be influential in the Cityzens’ quest of attaining their fourth consecutive English top-flight football silverware at the end of this season. Check out this article for more information on the midfielder’s return to Pep Guardiola’s side.
🗣️ “He has a little tear… He will be out for three weeks!”
😔 Pep Lijnders reveals that Liverpool will be without Trent Alexander-Arnold for a few weeks
📺 https://t.co/JiAfl0DliJ#liverpool | #carabaocup pic.twitter.com/4aBHouuREH
— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) January 9, 2024
Liverpool to Face Fulham in the First Leg of the EFL Cup Semifinal
Liverpool are set to take on fellow Premier League side Fulham at Anfield in the second match of the EFL Cup Semifinal, and Trent Alexander-Arnold is not the only key member from the home team that will miss the game due to an injury. Apart from the 25-year-old vice skipper Trent Alexander-Arnold, the Reds will also be without Dominik Szoboszlai, Andrew Robertson, Konstantinos Tsimikas, Thiago Alcântara and Stefan Bajčetić in the domestic cup tie against the Cottagers tonight. With several players also unavailable due to participations in the African Cup of Nations and the AFC Asian Cup, the only consolation for Liverpool in terms of the availability of players would be the likely return of club captain Virgil van Dijk.
“Virgil is back. He did some runs yesterday on the pitch, looked good again. So he will be back in the squad, he recovered well. So it really helped him not to travel to London. Dom is progressing well on the pitch, he’s running, so let’s see. Not available for tomorrow. And then we have Robbo, he’s almost at the three-month mark, so he will get checked by the surgeon. Then we see the three-month-mark scan and then we can see how quick he can go into contact again,” said the Liverpool assistant coach.
Lijnders also added: “Same for Kostas. Kostas is progressing really well, really quick. So hopefully both of them – Robbo and Kostas – will be back at the end of this month to train with the team. They (Thiago and Bajčetić) will not be ready for the end of this month. It will probably be going into the next month to train with us. But both [With] no complications, progressing.”
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