In a major blow for Liverpool, Luis Diaz is set to miss two months off action after suffering a knee injury in Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat at Arsenal on Sunday.
It is a significant blow for both the player and manager Jurgen Klopp, given his influence in the Liverpool ranks since his move from Porto in January.
However, there is some relief about the news as it was initially feared that the player might have suffered cruciate ligament damage, meaning he might have to undergo surgery. Klopp was rather disappointed in his post-match comments at the Emirates Stadium and Diaz took the flight home with his knee in a brace.
Diaz underwent a scan on his knee yesterday and while it was confirmed that the injury is severe enough for him to be ruled out of action for a considerable amount of time, there was some little relief that no surgery will be required to correct the problem.
Blow for Liverpool
As it stands, Diaz will miss a total of 10 games before the season pauses for the World Cup – he is not involved in that tournament though as Colombia failed to qualify – but provided there are no complications, he should be able to return when the Premier League resumes on Boxing Day.
Liverpool will prepare for the second half of the season with a December training camp in Dubai.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was also injured against Arsenal but it is understood his ankle problem is not as serious and while he isn’t expected to feature in either of the games this week, and should be available again before the end of the month.
Liverpool’s season goes from bad to worse
Liverpool’s season slump continues and the latest injury situation has now turned their case from bad to worse.
Speaking recently after the defeat to Arsenal, Klopp ruled his side out of the Premier League title race: “We’re not in the race. Imagine I would sit here and think ‘we are nearly there, wait.’ Look, we saw a lot of things.
“So, we have problems at the moment but we caused the team in form, the leader of the table, massive problems today. Even in a really bad situation for us, with early changes and stuff like this, we caused them real problems. That’s the truth as well. We have to continue.
“We’re in a tough moment and we want to get through this together and that’s what we are working on.”
What next for Liverpool?
Despite Liverpool’s poor run of form at the moment, they remain favourites to win this one and they will be expected to do just that. Against Arsenal, they showed they can still score goals and they will surely be itching to get on the pitch and return to winning ways in the Champions League.
