Mohamed Salah injury update: out of Carabao Cup final against Chelsea, will he be back against Southampton?

Liverpool attacker Mohamed Salah had looked to be back at full fitness after making his return from a hamstring injury against Brentford last Saturday, but his participation in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Chelsea was been thrown into doubt by his omission from the matchday squad in the home win over Luton Town on Wednesday.

See how it played out: Chelsea - Liverpool summary: score, goals & highlights, Carabao Cup final.

Why did Salah miss the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea?

The 31-year-old featured in every single match bar one for The Reds from the beginning of the season until he went off to play in the Africa Cup of Nations, where he suffered a hamstring issue in Egypt’s second game of the tournament against Ghana on 18 January. Following The Pharaohs’ elimination 10 days later, Salah sat out Liverpool’s next three Premier League fixtures and the FA Cup victory against Norwich before making a spectacular return to action against Brentford less than a week ago.

After being named as a substitute by Jürgen Klopp, the forward replaced the injured Diogo Jota just before half time and picked up where he had left off, providing a splendid assist for Alexis MacAllister early in the second half before scoring his team’s third goal in a 4-1 triumph in London.

It seemed as if normal service would resume from that moment on, until he was left out of Wednesday’s win over Luton, just four days before they face Chelsea in the final of the Carabao/EFL Cup, the first of four trophies the Merseysiders are hoping to win this season.

Liverpool injury update: Salah, Núñez, Szoboszlai, Alexander-Arnold, Jota, Alisson...

On Friday ahead of the final, Klopp’s assistant Pep Lijnders revealed to the media that Salah, along with Dominik Szoboszlai and Darwin Núñez, didn’t play in midweek because of their injury problems but all were in with a chance of featuring against The Blues, although the decision on whether they played was made ahead of kick-off. It was confirmed later that he would not feature.

Will Salah be back against Southampton?

Liverpool’s injury woes continued during the final as Ryan Gravenberch was stretchered off and Wataru Endo was seen leaving Wembley on crutches.

As for Mo Salah, the latest news seems to be that the winger could make the squad although he will not be rushed back into the starting XI and will be monitored right up until kick-off, as happened in the cup final at the weekend.

“We really have to see. We have two more days,” said the Dutchman. “Then we will check if they can be there. It would be great to be honest.”

Linders confirmed Liverpool, who have been ravaged by injuries in recent weeks, would be without goalkeeper Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jota and Curtis Jones, as had already been anticipated, while midfielders Thiago Alcântara and Stefan Bajcetic don’t appear to be ready to make their returns just yet.