Slot Speaks On Alisson And Ekitike’s Fitness As Liverpool Prepares For Chelsea

‎Liverpool manager, Arne Slot, has announced that goalkeeper Alisson Becker will miss this weekend’s match against Chelsea due to an injury sustained in the 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray.

‎Alisson was substituted by Giorgi Mamardashvili in the 56th minute after appearing to hurt himself at Rams Park.

‎He is expected to miss Saturday’s trip to Stamford Bridge, with further injury assessments to be carried out in the next few days.

‎”It’s never positive if you go off like this,’ Slot told Amazon Prime Video after the game. “You can be sure he’s not going to play on Saturday.” ”

‎Alisson has had spells out injured in each of the past two seasons. Last season, he was out for more than two months from early October to mid-December with a hamstring problem.

‎It was a disappointing night for Liverpool in Istanbul, with Galatasaray winning thanks to a first-half penalty from Victor Osimhen after Dominik Szoboszlai was adjudged to have committed a foul in the box.

‎The Reds also lost striker Hugo Ekitike to injury as the forward limped off midway through the second half.

‎”He felt something when he had to reach for the ball,” added Slot in his news conference.

‎”After the game, that’s always the difficult thing with these moments when players feel like it is not too bad, but when you just walk around it is something different than when you make a sprint or have to shoot on target.

‎”He said he couldn’t continue so we had to take him off. Let’s see how he is for the weekend.”

‎The injuries capped a disappointing night for Liverpool, who have now suffered back-to-back defeats for only the second time since Arne Slot took charge, following Saturday’s Premier League loss to Crystal Palace.

‎”Again, disappointed,” the Liverpool manager said. “For me, this was a different performance on and off the ball [than Crystal Palace]. In the first half, we played quite well and had a big chance to go up 1-0.

‎”It is difficult to compare this situation to before. We are sometimes a bit outsmarted in situations like this, and I cannot blame Dominik Szoboszlai for the situation. They make a 20% penalty a 100% penalty, which is very smart from them.

‎”We are not so far [off the level shown last season]. This is sometimes what the schedule can bring, Galatasaray is not a simple game. We now play Chelsea away, a difficult game.”

‎Slot added, “The margins are small, and they were last season. For the second time in a row, we are on the wrong side.

‎”I saw a lot of things in the first half, but the second half was much less. I don’t think that in the second half there was a lot of playing time.

‎”Their striker was on the floor four or five times. It was difficult to get momentum in the game.”