Liverpool have provided some welcome news regarding Ryan Gravenbirch’s ankle injury, with manager Arne Slott allaying concerns over the midfielder’s fitness. Grabenwerch was substituted with just over an hour left in Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat to Manchester United in the Premier League after twisting his ankle in a clash with Casemiro.
The Dutch international underwent medical tests the following day to determine the severity of his injury, but was left out of the Reds’ traveling squad, which departs on Tuesday afternoon for Wednesday’s Champions League game at Eintracht Frankfurt. However, Slott does not expect Gravenbirch to face long-term absence and has not ruled out the possibility of him being included in Saturday night’s Premier League game against Brentford.
Liverpool’s head coach said: “Ryan will not be able to play against Frankfurt, but we hope he will be available at the weekend.” “But this is an ankle injury. We have to wait and see, give him some time and see how he is when he comes back from Frankfurt.
“He has a very special quality in our team, you saw it for example when we played Bournemouth and when we played in the Community Shield, but we always missed a bit of a player who was defending the back four.”
Grabenwerch’s potential return is important news for the slot as Liverpool overcome a grueling seven-game stretch over 22 days that could be crucial to their campaign.
After Brentford, Liverpool will have three home games in three different competitions – Crystal Palace in the League Cup, Aston Villa in the Premier League and Real Madrid in the Champions League.
The Reds will then travel to Manchester City before the November international break, where the defending champions will face off.
Liverpool are still without injured goalkeeper Alisson Becker, while young centre-back Giovanni Leoni is set to miss the season after undergoing ACL surgery.
However, Wataru Endo, who missed the weekend’s game due to a hamstring problem and also missed Japan’s recent international matches, is eligible again.
liverpool traveling team
Gomez, Endo, Van Dijk, Konate, Kerkes, Wirtz, Szoboszlai, Isak, Mac Allister, Salah, Bradley, Chiesa, Jones, Gakpo, Ekitike, Mamadashvili, Robertson, Woodman, Frimpong, Ngmoha, Mishur.
