Trent Alexander-Arnold has been ruled out of the Carabao Cup final (Picture: Getty)
Liverpool will be without the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold for their eagerly anticipated Carabao Cup final encounter with Chelsea later this month.
Alexander-Arnold suffered a recurrence of a previous knee problem in Liverpool’s 3-1 victory over Burnley last weekend, with Harvey Elliott brought on his place at the half-time break at Anfield.
The enforced substitution meant central midfielder Curtis Jones had to cover for Alexander-Arnold at right-back in the second half, as goals from Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez sealed all three points for the hosts.
Back in January, Alexander-Arnold sustained a minor tear of a lateral knee ligament during Liverpool’s FA Cup victory over Arsenal and missed three games for the Reds – returning for the side’s fourth round defeat of Norwich.
The England international subsequently came on as a substitute as Liverpool swept Chelsea aside in the Premier League, before managing just 58 minutes at the Emirates as the Merseyside giants were beaten 3-1 at the hands of Arsenal.
According to The Times, Alexander-Arnold has been ruled out of the Carabao Cup final on February 25 and is expected to be unavailable for a number of weeks.
Conor Bradley appears likely to get the nod at Wembley, with the young Northern Ireland international returning to Liverpool training on Tuesday after missing two games on compassionate leave.
The 20-year-old produced an exceptional performance – scoring and providing two assists – in Alexander-Arnold’s absence as Liverpool ran riot against Chelsea in the top flight just two weeks ago.
The England right-back is likely to be absent for a number of weeks (Picture: Getty)
Speaking after the win over Burnley, Jurgen Klopp confirmed that Alexander-Arnold had aggravated a pre-existing knee injury and would be assessed by Liverpool’s medical team.
‘Same area in the knee,’ the Liverpool head coach told reporters at his post-match press conference.
‘Nothing really bad but he felt it again and we have to see. We will assess it.
Liverpool youngster Bradley could start at Wembley (Picture: Getty)
‘We were made aware of it in the game so thought, “What can we do?”, then Trent said, “No it’s fine”.
‘But it’s not as he feels it so we had to be careful and take him off.’
In his post-match press conference, Klopp added: ‘He felt it there [in his knee]. He got stuck in the grass, we will see, further assessment.’
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There was some positive news for Liverpool this week, though, as Mohamed Salahmade his return to first-team training ahead of the side’s trip to Brentford.
The talismanic Egypt forward picked up a hamstring injury while on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations and was forced to leave the tournament early.
Meanwhile, Alisson and Joe Gomez could both feature at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday after recovering from illnesses that saw them miss the defeat of Burnley.
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