PREMIER LEAGUE
Liverpool injury update: Alisson Becker, Joel Matip and Diogo Jota ruled out against Sheffield United
Liverpool are set to play against Sheffield United with a number of first team players injured.
Bottom-placed Sheffield United welcome Liverpool to Bramall Lane in the Premier League (Wednesday 6 December 2023, KO 2.30 p.m. ET / 11.30 a.m PT.), and manager Jürgen Klopp has plenty of injuries to deal with ahead of the tie.
Liverpool, who sit second in the league standings behind Arsenal (36), are currently on 31 points, one ahead of Manchester City. It was against Manchester City where The Reds’ first-choice goalkeeper, Alisson Becker, suffered a hamstring injury that has kept him out of recent games.
Soon after the injury to the Brazilian, Jürgen Klopp had to deal with an physical issue to one of his first-choice centre-backs, Joel Matip, who came off in the 69th minute of Liverpool’s 4-3 win over Fulham on match day 14 of the Premier League season. Portuguese forward Diogo Jota is also set for a spell on the sidelines and was absent in Liverpool’s Europa League game against LASK, which the English side won 4-0.
What injury does Alisson Becker have? When will he return?
Alisson, given the fact that Liverpool had already used up all of the permitted substitutes, was forced to carry on until the end of the game despite his injury. “Both [Alisson and Jota] are out,” Klopp told the press during the week, “with Ali it’s a bit lesser, so we have to see – not day by day, he will not play tomorrow, not on Sunday, probably not the week after. Then it should be kind of OK. Diogo will take a little bit longer, we don’t know exactly how long, but it’s a bit more severe. We have to see.”
When will Joel Matip return for Liverpool?
Taking the word of Jürgen Klopp, the news is not positive regarding Joel Matip’s recovery time. “I don’t know exactly [how long he will be out] but it doesn’t look good”, said the German coach, “that’s something we can say. The scan is not done yet so we don’t know exactly, but it’s not great. From the first second it was clear, we spoke to him and said, ‘No, that’s not good.”
Thiago Alcantara, Stefan Bajcetic and Andy Robertson are the longer-term absentees for Liverpool and Jürgen Klopp.
Sheffield United’s new manager gives Klopp a problem
Sheffield United sacked their manager Paul Heckingbottom with the club at the bottom of the Premier League and having won only one and lost 11 of their first 14 league games. Despite leading the team to promotion, England’s top division proved one step too far for the former Leeds United coach and Chris Wilder, who won promotion to the Premier League with The Blades in 2019, has returned.
When asked how the change of head coach affects Liverpool’s preparations for the match, Klopp said: “We can probably bin our analysis! I was sitting yesterday in the office and somebody told me it might happen... but I watched it anyway. We will see. We have to focus on ourselves. I don’t think he will now change too much. What can he change in that short period? We don’t have to think too much about it. We really should just prepare for a football game.”
The Premier League game between Sheffield United and Liverpool will be played at Bramall Lane on Wednesday 6 December 2023. Kick-off is at 2.30 p.m. ET / 11.30 a.m PT.