Key Takeaways
- Arne Slot claims the busy match calendar is the main cause of Alisson’s repeated muscle injuries.
- Liverpool will start third-choice keeper Freddie Woodman after Giorgi Mamardashvili also got hurt.
- Newcastle’s Tino Livramento faces a race against time to be fit for both the season run-in and England’s World Cup squad.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has pointed to football’s overloaded fixture list as the chief reason star goalkeeper Alisson Becker keeps pulling hamstring muscles. The Brazil number one has been out for more than a month, his second such lay-off this campaign, leaving the club with only rookie Freddie Woodman for the coming league match.
Slot refused to speak about rumours linking Alisson with a move to Italy. “My job is to get him healthy and back on the pitch for Liverpool and Brazil,” the Dutchman said. “The schedule is crazy; young and old players are breaking down. Age is less the issue than the number of games we are forced to play.”
Across the north-east, Newcastle United fear right-back Tino Livramento could be sidelined until next season. A thigh strain suffered against Bournemouth may keep the England hopeful out of Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup plans. Manager Eddie Howe is waiting for a second scan and admits, “We don’t know if Tino will play again this season.”
Howe will also be without winger Anthony Gordon at Arsenal on Saturday because of a hip problem. Gordon’s absence, just days after fresh links to Bayern Munich, sparked questions over his commitment, but Howe insisted: “He is injured, full stop. There is no story.”
Newcastle have five matches left and Howe has challenged his squad to win them all, blaming poor confidence rather than squad unrest for their recent slide.
