Liverpool and Manchester United will lead the return to Premier League action after the international break this week
Seven players could be absent from Liverpool vs. Manchester United when the Premier League resumes on Sunday. United manager Ruben Amorim feels his squad’s fitness concerns have eased in recent weeks with Matheus Cunha, Diogo Dalot and Mason Mount all back in action.
Mount scored in a 2-0 win over Sunderland before the October international break, making his first start since August. Building on that success, Amorim is aiming for his first consecutive Premier League title since taking over.
A big boost for the Red Devils is that they could head to Merseyside fully fit. Lisandro Martínez has returned to training and is inching closer to making a comeback, but he is likely to return gradually after injuring his anterior cruciate ligament in February.
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Nousser Mazraoui missed the final game against United, but could feature against Liverpool. Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Arne Slott has potentially serious concerns regarding several key players, including two relative newcomers.
Ibrahima Konate was sent off in the defeat to Chelsea after failing to overcome a thigh problem, and France announced at the weekend that he would be returning to Liverpool, the Manchester Evening News reported.
Ryan Gravenbirch replaced Konate at centre-back last weekend when he came on as a substitute, but that may not be an option in the slot if the former remains sidelined. Grafenwerch was substituted at half-time in the Netherlands’ World Cup qualifying match against Finland.
“Ryan has indicated that he has a slight problem with his hamstring,” Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman said. “Of course we didn’t take any risks with that.”
After the match, Graben-Birch said, “Partly it was fitness-related. It’s a long season so it was a precautionary measure. I’m feeling good and I have the confidence of my coach.”
It was previously confirmed that Alisson would be sidelined for several weeks with a hamstring problem, while summer signing Giovanni Leoni suffered a serious knee injury last month.
There are also concerns about Wataru Endo’s fitness after he withdrew from the Japan squad at the last minute due to an undisclosed injury.
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